[Biotechnological pharmaceuticals and their potential use in inflammatory skin diseases]

In recent years, a more detailed understanding of the pathogenesis of several inflammatory skin diseases, and developments in biotechnology, have made it possible to design specific response modifiers, which hold a potential for greater effectiveness and fewer side effects than do the systemic therapies in current use in cases of severe psoriasis, contact dermatitis and atopic dermatitis. The immune system plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory skin diseases, and this is where such biological response modifiers as monoclonal antibodies, recombinant cytokines, or fusion proteins may be effective. Several biological response modifiers have already shown positive results in phase II clinical trials; phase III trials are being carried out.