[Vitamin D3 for external application--history of development and clinical application]

The study of vitamin D(3) topical applications has begun at Osaka University after Morimoto S. reported a patient with senile osteoporosis whose psoriasis was cured after treatment with 1-alpha-hydroxyvitamin D(3) [1 alpha (OH) D(3)]. Another study of the first use of vitamin D(3) for psoriasis was reported in the same year in both Europe and the United States independently. Calcipotriol ointment came first onto the market for the treatment of psoriasis in Denmark in 1990. In Japan, where tacalcitol ointment was first approved in 1993, six kinds of topical vitamin D(3) applications are now available. Now new applications of vitamin D(3) are anticipated to replace therapeutic drugs currently in use for psoriasis and other skin diseases.