Medical Dermatology Gets Under VCs' Skin

In the pharmaceutical industry, dermatology is the new ophthalmology. Like ophtho, dermatology has long been viewed as a pharmaceutical backwater dogged by a diverse set of problems, including a fragmented market, drug delivery challenges, and less than effective therapies. Today's market forces, however, are driving Big Pharma into a more specialized direction, and in the past three years, many - if not all - Big Pharmas have reoriented their pipelines, refocusing on areas of high unmet medical need in the hopes of identifying novel drugs that have a greater chance of passing muster with regulators and succeeding in the marketplace. Freed from the need to pursue blockbuster products, dermatology assets are suddenly more attractive.