LEO Pharma and the Parker Institute at Copenhagen University Hospital have entered into a three-year academic partnership aimed at advancing dermatology research.

The alliance will focus on enhancing skin disease understanding, as well as discovering molecules that could be incorporated into wider pharmaceutical research and development efforts.

The British Skin Foundation reports that 60% of people in the UK currently have, or have previously had, a skin condition.

As part of the collaboration, LEO will leverage the Parker Institute’s translational capabilities to better understand immunophenotyping and how these insights apply to skin diseases.

The Parker Institute also uses artificial intelligence (AI) and SingleCell RNA sequencing, which LEO said “allows for a more detailed examination of single-cell data, giving a clearer understanding of how skin diseases work”.

LEO’s chief scientific officer and executive vice president, Jacob Pontoppidan Thyssen, said: “While breakthroughs in skin science have improved treatment options, over 1,000 skin diseases still lack effective treatments.

“This partnership is an important step in addressing these unmet needs. By combining our expertise, we aim to positively impact patients worldwide.”

The agreement comes just two months after LEO and non-profit organisation DEBRA Research announced a collaboration aimed at accelerating the development of treatments for epidermolysis bullosa, a group of rare and painful inherited skin disorders that cause the skin to become very fragile and tear or blister very easily.

Lars Erik Kristensen, vice president, head of external innovation at LEO, said its latest partnership with the Parker Institute “further reinforces [the company’s] commitment to… leverage external innovation and use the world as [its] lab”.

“By joining forces with such a recognised partner, we aim to advance our understanding of skin diseases, improve patient care and potentially discover molecules that may be involved in wider pharmaceutical research and development initiatives later on,” he added.