FIDE is pioneering as an independent dermatology group, employing expert-driven consultations on chronic skin conditions. Fishawack reported that, given the recent developments in commercialisation, gaining the specialist support of FIDE has meant that it can ‘better equip our dermatology clients with the knowledge and skills necessary to meet their stakeholders’ complex and evolving needs’.

Executive director at FIDE Bruce Strober welcomed the union. He explained: “By joining Fishawack Health, we can connect our knowledge of the field with Fishawack Health’s deep expertise in services supporting clients through the product life cycle to help life sciences companies transform patients’ lives.”

Strober, clinical professor of dermatology at Yale University School of Medicine is in good company in this move, bringing with him a band of internationally respected clinical experts and directors. Gail Flockhart, group president at Fishawack Health, echoed Strober’s sentiments, adding that FIDE’s “expert-led approach provides our clients with insights into a highly innovative and complex market with significant unmet patient needs”. Given that skin diseases are the fourth most common of all diseases, it is crucial that companies like FIDE view these issues from the patient’s perspective.

Not only does it promote a better quality of life for the patient but it allows clinicians to approach their research differently, perhaps with a more empathetic perspective.
As Fishawack Health is abundantly aware, research and development has increased in the dermatology sector, leading to a saturation of the market, meaning that the resulting data can be overwhelming and daunting – even to professionals in the field.

In order to better comprehend the complexities around chronic and inflammatory skin conditions, it is in the interest of life sciences companies like Fishawack Health to equip themselves with expert guidance. In turn, the patient feels the benefits of bolstered clinical advice and Fishawack benefits from successfully investing in its people.

The relationship between FIDE and Fishawack Health was not one that just happened overnight; over the course of a decade, the two organisations have fostered a working partnership. Jonathan Kock, Fishawack Health CEO, commented that the combination of the two organisations added “a unique lens to our services for our dermatology clients” in what he saw as an unprecedented coupling during his experience working in life sciences agencies.