Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage drug development company focused on the application of its lead compound being developed to treat chronic inflammatory conditions, has retained two  Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), each having renowned international expertise in dermatological disease, to advise, enhance, and assist with the company's inflammatory skin disease drug development program.

The Company has entered into consultancy agreements with Professor Christopher Griffiths, MD, FMedSci, Foundation Professor of Dermatology at the University of Manchester, and Professor Vincent Piguet, MD, PhD, FRCP, Head of Department of Dermatology & Wound Healing and Director of the Division of Infection & Immunology at Cardiff University, based at the Welsh Institute of Dermatology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff.

Dr. Michael Mullan, (MBBS, PhD), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals, highlighted, "We are extremely pleased that Professors Griffiths and Piguet have agreed to assist us in our program advancing a novel approach to treating dermatological disease. Their world class scientific knowledge, and deep clinical experience will be of great benefit in developing our treatments based on a new mechanism of action for inflammatory skin diseases."

Professor Griffiths qualified in Medicine from St Thomas' Hospital Medical School, London University. He trained in Dermatology at St Mary's Hospital, London, and at the University of Michigan, USA.  He was appointed to the Foundation Chair in Dermatology at the University of Manchester in 1994 and is an honorary consultant dermatologist at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust. At the University of Manchester he has served variously as: Head of Medicine and Neuroscience; Head of the School of Translational Medicine; Research Dean; and, Director of the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre. The Times of London named him as one of the UK's Top 200 doctors in 2010 and in 2011 he was appointed as an NIHR Senior Investigator and elected to Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Professor Griffiths is a past President of: the British Association of Dermatologists; European Dermatology Forum; and, British Society for Investigative Dermatology. He has published over 530 peer reviewed scientific articles and is lead editor of Rook's Textbook of Dermatology.  His research includes all aspects of psoriasis, the "brain-skin axis" and mechanisms and repair of skin aging.

Professor Piguet trained at the School of Medicine, University of Geneva and graduated in 1995. He spent two years doing research in virology and immunology at the Salk Institute in San Diego, USA. He obtained his MD and PhD in 2000/2001 and his specialist certification in Dermatology & Venereology in 2004 from the Swiss Medical Association.  He obtained a prestigious Fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation in 2003 and was subsequently promoted to Assistant and then Associate Professor at University of Geneva. In 2010 he was appointed Professor and Chair of the Department of Dermatology and Wound Healing at Cardiff University, Wales, UK and Honorary Consultant Dermatologist at the University Hospital of Wales. In 2011 he obtained UK certification in Dermatology and in 2014 became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. In 2011 he was appointed Director of the Institute of Infection and Immunity, School of Medicine, Cardiff University and in 2015, Director of the Division of Infection and Immunity, School of Medicine, Cardiff University. Prof Piguet has authored over 110 publications in the fields of dermatology, dendritic cells, HIV, gene therapy, immunology and vaccination in a range of highly cited peer review journals such as Cell, Immunity, The Lancet, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Blood, and Nature Medicine. He has received numerous grants (including from the Human Frontier Science Program and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) to further his research including in the areas of psoriasis, melanoma and immunology. Professor Piguet gave the 'Rudi Cormane Lecture' at the European Society for Dermatological Research (ESDR) in 2014 and has given more than 100 lectures at national and international meetings, including at the World Congress of Dermatology. He received a merit award in 2014 from the Society for Arts, Science and Technology in Wales, The Welsh Livery Guild.  He is on the editorial boards of several journals, including the Journal of Investigative Dermatology and British Journal of Dermatology.  He is the Past-President of the ESDR and current Executive Board member and Treasurer of the European Dermatology Forum, a not for profit organization dedicated to improving the healthcare need of dermatology patients in Europe.