Help us identify priorities for acne treatment research
Published: 02 May 2013
Despite being one of the most common skin diseases in the UK, acne receives very little research funding. There is still a lack of innovative treatments becoming available - most new prescription medicines are simply combination of old drugs. Physical therapies based on light and heat energy may look promising but none are adopted by the NHS and standard protocols for their use have not yet been developed. No one really knows what sort of treatments people with acne would prefer, because researchers seldom ask them.
The Acne Priority Setting Partnership
The Acne Priority Setting Partnership was set up to bring together on a level playing field people with acne and those who treat them to first identify and then prioritise unanswered questions about the treatment of acne. The partnership is being co-ordinated from the Department of Dermatology at Harrogate District Hospital where consultant dermatologist and leading acne expert, Dr Alison Layton, and her team are based.
The partnership is funded by the UK Dermatology Clinical Trials Network and the Society for Academic Primary Care. It is overseen by a Steering Group comprising patient representatives, people who treat acne and experts chosen for their ability to help with specific tasks. The Steering Group is chaired by Lester Firkins, OBE, of the James Lind Alliance which pioneered the interactive process of priority setting that has now become an established part of the National Institute of Health Research’s evidence gathering to justify where research funds are targeted.
Answer our survey
If you have an interest in acne please fill out our survey and tell us your unanswered questions about acne. the survey runs from 22 May to the end of July and you can respond:
- online at www.acnepsp.org
- via your mobile - text ‘spots’ to 88020 and you'll be sent a link to the survey
- on paper - paper copies are available on request by emailing elizabeth.oldham@hdft.nhs.uk.
Once all the unanswered questions have been submitted:
- they will be checked to make sure the evidence is not already available to answer them. Unanswered questions will be grouped
- acne patients and treatment providers will then be asked to vote for their favourites via a second online survey
- a priority setting workshop will be held, during which about 40 invited representatives of patients and healthcare professionals will be asked to identify a final top ten from the short-listed questions
- these prioritised questions will be brought to the attention of researchers and those who fund their work
- all the refined questions will be entered into the UK Database of Uncertainties about the Effects of Treatment (DUETs) where they are available for anyone to access.
The Acne Priority Setting Partnership is committed to delivering a successful priority setting exercise which it is hoped will inform the direction of clinical research in acne for years to come. Further information is available at www.acnepsp.org.