Gil Yosipovitch, MD: Overview of Current Research on Prurigo Nodularis

Gil Yosipovitch, MD, professor of dermatology for the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, spoke with the HCPLive editorial team on findings presented at the 2023 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) conference and his outlook on treatment research for prurigo nodularis (PN).

Yosipovitch was first asked about research he presented at EADV on PN patients with varying clinical morphologies.

“Prurigo nodularis is a big bag of many clinical phenotypes and the classical is the nodular-papular-nodular,” he explained. “But my colleague in Germany, Dr. Stander, has beautifully described different subtypes and phenotypes such as ulcerative lesions, plaque-like lesions, and umbilicated lesions. And the question was whether all these different phenotypes would respond similarly to the classical papular nodule, which is the major indication for PN as a treatment.”

Yosipovitch noted that each of these lesions in the study responded well to the treatment suggesting that dupilumab is not just focused on 1 subtype or final type of this disease, but is effective in all types of presentations.

“And I think that's important for a practicing dermatologist, because we were not aware and we didn't have the data yet to look at the different subtypes,” he said.

Later, Yosipovitch was asked more broadly about his view on current research and outlook for PN treatment options.

“Well, it's a very hot topic,” Yosipovitch said. “Clearly, we know a lot more about the immune factors, there is also a neural factor that is extremely important, meaning that the neural system is over activated. So these 2 aspects are important and also in drug targeting. What is clear to me is that we need to better understand these cross talks between the neural immune cells. I am very excited that dupilumab was the first of its kind, but it opened the field for so many other targets that are going to be translated to drugs.”

Yospipovitch continued in his description of the present and future treatment landscape for PN.

“I think that, again, the fact that we're now opening the field and understanding better all these mechanisms will yield a new itch- free future for almost millions of patients in the world,” Yosipovitch said.

For further information on Yosipovitch’s views, view the full interview segment above.

The quotes included in this description were edited for clarity.