BioPharmX Corporation has formed a Special Advisory Council of thought leaders from various disciplines to help the company embrace patient centricity in its products, pricing, and market access considerations.

The advisors, who bring decades of experience in fields beyond dermatology—ranging from regulatory pathways to market access and from infectious diseases to antibiotic resistance—will inform the company's efforts by providing the kind of strategic expertise needed to position BioPharmX as a leader in patient-centric dermatology. The Special Advisory Council will collaborate with  the company's scientific and medical team and its Medical Advisory Board, a group of dermatologic experts in acne and rosacea who have been instrumental in guiding BioPharmX in the treatment of these diseases.

"We are excited about what the future holds for BioPharmX and are confident that this team of respected scientists and physicians will enable us to accelerate the next steps in our company's evolution," said Anja Krammer, BioPharmX President and Co-Founder. "After years of working on our pipeline and patent protections for our unique delivery systems, we now are collaborating with these passionate patient advocates to help us achieve our goal of becoming truly patient centric. Ultimately, they will help us put patients at the center of everything we do."

Patient-centricity has been a decades-long goal for the healthcare industry. But larger companies have struggled to retrofit their products and services around patient-centered care models. BioPharmX, designed to be a more nimble organization, says it is committed to ensuring its products are dedicated to the patient, from developing cosmetically elegant products that are easy to use, tolerable and with minimal side effects, to making sure those products are reasonably priced and available to the patients who seek them.

"There has never been a greater need for patient-centricity in dermatology," said Dr. Julie Harper, president of the American Acne and Rosacea Society and member of the company's Medical Advisory Board. "I look forward to collaborating with these distinguished colleagues to drive innovative solutions and improve access to care." 

The Special Advisory Council includes:

• R. Todd Plott, MD, an expert on oral minocycline formulation, clinical trials and regulation, who holds six patents related to Solodyn^® oral minocycline and was appointed to the FDA Dermatologic & Opthalmic Drug Advisory Committee 2014-2019.
• Mark D. Kaufmann, MD, associate clinical professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, an expert on market access and formulary, with extensive experience working with companies to place novel drugs on appropriate formularies.
• George Zhanel, PharmD, PhD, professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, coordinator of antibiotic resistance in the Departments of Medicine and Microbiology at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, and director of the Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance. He is an expert on antibiotic resistance.
• Kenneth J. Tomecki, MD, vice chairman of the Department of Dermatology at Cleveland Clinic,  an expert on infectious diseases with a passion for patient-centric care, medical education and clinical research. 
• James J. Leyden, MD, emeritus professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to 50 years of  experience with acne and rosacea, he is an expert on regulatory issues and has consulted for the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission and drug regulation agencies in England, Germany and Austria.

BioPharmX has successfully completed a phase 2b trial for BPX-01 for acne and is preparing for phase 3 trials, and has reported positive interim results from a feasibility study for BPX-04 for rosacea and is preparing for a phase 2 trial.