Welcome to the Skin Forum UK Focus Group

The purpose of the Skin Forum UK is to bring together scientists from both academia and industry to facilitate learning in relation to topical and transdermal applications.

Why is skin research so important? Skin research is essential for two quite different reasons. On the one hand the cosmetics industry is gargantuan. According to OrbisResearch.com, the global cosmetics market is expected to reach an astonishing USD 805.61 billion by 2023. Formulations are becoming increasingly competitive and sophisticated, but need to comply with the parameters of cosmetics legislation and remain topical. On the other hand, an improvement in the transdermal delivery of drug products could potentially provide an alternative delivery system, avoiding first pass metabolism and some of the gastro-intestinal side effects of oral delivery. The Skin Forum UK Focus Group provides a framework for linking many specialists and enabling collaborative learning for all.

The Skin Forum UK 2022 meeting took place in Malmo in Sweden on 21 – 22 June. It was wonderful to have the opportunity for an in-person conference after a two-year Covid-enforced interval. We had the opportunity to hear about a broad range of topics. These included the latest insights into skin barrier disruption and inflammatory conditions, the responses of the skin microbiome to the use of cosmetic products, some novel drug delivery approaches, a glimpse into the world of drug discovery, the importance of rheology in semisolid formulations and the impact of formulation effects on the biomechanics of the skin. There were also regulatory updates relating to the equivalence testing of topical products and talks on the use of Confocal Raman Spectroscopy to determine skin penetration and bioequivalence.

In addition, there were nine Young Researchers who presented their work in three separate sessions. Congratulations to Irene Sagrafena, who won the presentation award amid strong competition.

There were also approximately ninety poster presentations. All looked very professional and were presented well. While I’m sure the judges found it very difficult to choose the winners of the poster awards, congratulations to Luna Gade and Georgios Paraskevopoulos who were victorious!

The meeting was not all presentations. Besides opportunities for discussions at lunch times and refreshment breaks, on Tuesday evening there was a guided walking tour of one of the oldest cities in Sweden, Skanor med Falsterbo. This was followed by a very tasty traditional Swedish buffet.

As always, it was fabulous to have the opportunity to meet people in the field and exchange ideas. Of course, there are many people to thank, who all contributed to make this conference a success:

• the sponsors LTS, Maruho
• Malmo University
• the exhibitors Galenica, KC Labtech, Lipoid, Nuvisan, Biox, Zelmic and Wheels Bridge
• Majella Lane and Dominique Lunter, who assembled an excellent group of speakers
• APV’s Anna-Maria Potzl and Dr. Martin Bornhoft, whose communication and organisation made the event proceed like clockwork

So-called hot topics include:

• Regulatory requirements for equivalence testing of topical products
• Skin permeability
• Biophysical techniques for examining the structure & function of skin
• Bioavailability and bioequivalence issues
• Dermal, transdermal drug design & QSAR
• In vitro drug release from dermal & transdermal products
• In vitro – in vivo correlations – Alternative models
• Non-invasive drug monitoring
• Application of 3D printing in the development of topical and transdermal medicines

Dr Majella Lane
Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutics,
University College London