Local Company Launches the First Pharmacy for Sensitive Skin
As a serial life science entrepreneur and longtime South Florida resident, Dr. Spencer Malkin was running a series of health care ventures in the early 2000s. One of his most successful yet frustrating ventures was focused on the retail and compounding pharmacy space. While building a nationwide pharmacy footprint, he began directly observing the key challenges and nuances embedded in the specialty of dermatology. Doctors were facing a fundamental challenge in that they couldn’t prescribe the most effective medicines at ideal dosages while ensuring these medicines were covered by insurance without significant prior authorizations or outright formulary rejections. In other words, there was a clear frustration on the part of both the doctor and the patient because what insurance companies were deeming “medically necessary” was essentially a moving target.
Doctors were also limited to a one-size-fits-all dosage of active ingredients they could prescribe regardless of the severity of each individual patient’s conditions. In some cases, patients with sensitive skin needed different amounts of ingredients based on their reduced ability to tolerate the additives in normal medicines. Unfortunately, this could cause those individuals even more harm in the form of rashes, hives, full-on allergic responses, and an entire range of adverse reactions. The total of these challenges led Dr. Malkin to start SKNV in 2016.
Fast forward to 2023, and SKNV is the market leader in customized medications dispensed directly from dermatology practices and has created the first pharmacy dedicated specifically to sensitive skin. SKNV provides the complete system for leading dermatologists to expertly prescribe customized medications across all major skin conditions, while also benefiting from best-in-class digital health for improved patient management and refill compliance.
SKNV enables local practices to focus on optimized daily care, while providing easy-to-use 24/7 tools to improve drug adherence, ensure monthly refills are being followed with Rx ecommerce (including free shipping) and by offering more ways to keep patients engaged and loyal between visits with asynchronous telehealth. SKNV places the power of customized prescription care back in the hands of local providers.
A key enabler of the SKNV creation and innovation was the Drug Quality and Security Act passed in late 2013, which constructed the concept of an FDA-Registered 503B Outsourcing Facility that could customize known-active ingredients into new formulations and distribute them via doctors, hospitals, and ultimately directly to consumers. This regulation paired with the FDA’s expanded role in overseeing customized medications allowed Dr. Malkin to seek inspiration to build a whole new paradigm for prescription dermatology medicines across the 12 major disease states, among them being acne, rosacea, melasma, and psoriasis. He also sought the opportunity to modify and eliminate harmful inactive ingredients. Beyond these clinical revolutions, Dr. Malkin was insistent on devising a pricing structure that lessened the burden of cost while expanding the number of formulations available to doctors, meaning they could customize a treatment plan to each of their patients.
With up to 70% of patients reporting sensitive skin, there has never been a better time for dermatologists to offer a highly customized and cleaner version of leading medicines, a possibility that SKNV has now created. Both dermatologists and patients can visit www.sknvmatch.com to see a full list of available medicines and for prescribing instructions.
McClatchy newsroom and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.
