ABSTRACT
The majority of drugs used in dermatology was not initially developed for the skin but are spin-offs from drug development in other fields, e.g. corticosteroids, antibiotics. At the time of writing, the concept of developing an agent specifically for the treatment of eczema is somewhat underworked. This chapter aim is to provide the reader with an overall plan for the drug development process in eczema and to stimulate him/her to further develop the range of available techniques and models in a critical and logical manner, thus helping to bring dermatopharmacology into line with the more advanced areas of drug research and development. Before considering the process of human drug evaluation in eczema, it is important to clarify a few basic issues such as the definition of the disease and the possible targets for therapeutic intervention.
