Non-invasive Genomic Approaches to Treating Atopic Dermatitis and Psoriasis: A Cross- sectional Survey of Dermatologists and Primary Care Physicians

Background: In order to assess the difficulty dermatologists and primary care physicians (PCP) experience in differentiating atopic dermatitis (AD) from psoriasis (PS), and their interest in incorporating a non-invasive genomic test to help guide treatment decisions, we conducted a quantitative market research study including 250 dermatologists and 250 PCP’s. A representative distribution was obtained across four US census regions and included a mix of gender, age, practice ownership and years of practice. PCP’s were split between Family Practice (52%) and Internal Medicine (48%) and saw a minimum of 25 patients a week with dermatologic conditions. Dermatologists (83%) and PCPs (89%) were likely (very or somewhat) to use a test that could distinguish between AD and PS to guide their treatment decisions. PCPs struggle more than dermatologists to differentiate these conditions and demonstrate a more pronounced need (56% vs 38% very or somewhat difficult differentiation). Most dermatologists and PCPs were likely to use a differentiating test 1-9 times per month. (94%) and PCPs (96%) also found a test to identify biologic responders vs. non-responders to be influential (very or somewhat) in their decision to use biologics. Such a test may have potentially greater impact on biologic use among PCP’s, as when steroids are insufficient against unknown ideologies, PCP’s (45%) are less likely than dermatologists (80%) to treat with biologics. Incorporating a test to differentiate between AD (TH2) and PS (TH17) gave confidence (a great deal and some) to PCP’s (89%) and dermatologists (86%) in use of biologics in their patients.