Unmet needs

Together with all stakeholders, patients, different health care providers, researchers, pharma representatives, it is of utmost importance to identify, list and prioritize unanswered questions, especially those that are the most important for patients from all over the world. We need to try to reduce research waste (see Figure).

Within SPIN we intend to summarize the unmet needs identified by the different organizations who develop lists of unmet needs for the IMIDs and try to collect them from (Cochrane) systematic reviews and guidelines. We should try to prioritize these questions as research resources are limited. To successfully seek funding, we need to write adequate proposals.

SPIN believes that synergies can be created between activities focusing on different IMIDs. Examples: The lessons learned from the homeforeczema.org initiative should be used to develop the core outcome sets in the other IMIDs. The systematic review and eDelphi consensus study for the dosing of methotrexate for psoriasis could be a good template for a similar project for the off-label use of methotrexate in atopic dermatitis.

(Figure : Macleod, M. R. (2014). Biomedical research : increasing value, reducing waste. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)62329-6/fulltext.)