Epidemiology of dermatological diseases - aging, metabolic diseases and beyond

Abstract

More than forty different diseases are associated with dermato-pathological problems. The skin is the largest organ of the body -as any organ, its constitutive elements are, under physiological conditions, controlled by signals arising from the central, peripheral and autonomous nervous systems. Consequently, a plethora of problems affecting central nervous system (CNS) and non-CNS-mediated functions may lead secondarily to skin problems. As of now, the industry has generally failed to provide safe and potent drugs and therapeutics capable of fulfilling each of these specific unmet medical needs -most skin care products don't even meet safety standards and requirements, as imposed by regulatory authorities for approval and marketing of pharmaceutical products (i.e., small molecule therapeutics or biologics). Thus, next-generation drugs ant therapeutics for skin diseases will probably be increasingly acting upon central and peripheral mechanisms for superior efficacy which, in turn, shall force regulatory authorities to impose stricter regulations for approval and marketing of dermatological products.