Right on TAR-get: Rehabilitation of coal tar therapy for atopic dermatitis; Atopic dermatitis (AD) is an extremely common disease with an estimated prevalence of 15% in
children and 1% in adults. The medical, psycho-social and economic impact is high. Treatment is
symptomatic and current therapies are limited by side effects. The oldest known treatment of AD is the
topical use of coal tar ointment. This treatment, although very effective, is declining because of
cosmetic reasons (smell, color) and safety concerns which restrict its use largely to intramural day
care settings. A recent scientific breakthrough by the RUNMC on the working mechanism of coal tar
has attracted wide attention from the scientific and medical community, as it rehabilitates coal tar as a
rational therapy1. Due to the common nature of the disease, this finding was also readily picked up by
the lay press, patient organizations and social media. Based on this finding and unique technology
developed at RUNMC we will isolate active fractions from coal tar. Together with Fagron, a Dutch
pharmaceutic company and a global market leader in medicinal coal tar compounding, we aim to
generate a new drug derived from coal tar, with user-friendly properties and an improved safety profile.
