Addressing unmet patient needs in pruritus: upcoming EADV Virtual presentations and abstracts

Today at the 29^th EADV Congress, EADV Virtual, dermatologists are challenging pre-conceptions to address unmet patient needs in chronic pruritus and prurigo.

Until 2013 there were no randomised controlled trials for chronic prurigo – an inflammatory dermatosis with symmetrical pruriginous lesions and a severe itch-scratch-cycle - but now there are a number of treatments in development. Professor Sonja Ständer, a dermatologist at the Centre for Chronic Pruritus, University Hospital Münster, Germany reviews the latest clinical trial data in her presentation in the Spotlight 2A session at 15:00.[i]

The EADV-funded European Prurigo project reports the need for guidelines and new treatments such as biologics in the management of chronic nodular prurigo (CNPG).[ii] Dr Manuel Pedro Pereira, a dermatologist also at the Centre for Chronic Pruritus, presents the results of a survey of 406 CNPG patients with active disease from 12 European countries which shows that most patients are not treated with potent systemic agents leading to high levels of dissatisfaction with therapy.

Finally, the elusive pathophysiology behind ‘uraemic itch,’ associated with end-stage renal disease, has been found.[iii]

Professor Ständer, a dermatologist at the Center for Chronic Pruritus, University Hospital Münster, Germany says: “The first Guidelines for Prurigo have just been accepted for publication, and offer a laddered approach to treatment, reflecting disease severity, treatment efficacy and disease time course. These guidelines are a first step to standardising the treatment of this burdenful disease.”

[i] Ständer S. Upcoming treatment in pruritus. Presented 30 October 2020 at EADV Virtual.

[ii] Pereira , MP, et al. EUROPEAN PRURIGO PROJECT: PATIENT PERSPECTIVE ON THERAPEUTIC NEEDS AND SATISFACTION. Abstract no 1438 EADV Virtual, 29-31 October 2020

[iii] Wieczorek A, Krajewski P, Kozioł-Gałczynska M, et al. Opioid receptors expression in the skin of haemodialysis patients suffering from uraemic pruritus. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2020; 34: 2368–2372. https://doi.org/10.1111/jdv.16360]