GROUND-BREAKING research into the impact of long-term drug therapies to treat north Wales people with the chronic skin condition psoriasis has won a top award.

More than 140 psoriasis patients who are being treated at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s three acute hospitals are taking part in the national study.

The team at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, who recruited the North Wales patients, have now won an award from the British Association of Dermatologists Biologic Interventions Register (BADBIR).

The award, which names Ysbyty Gwynedd as a ‘model centre,’ is for recruiting the highest number of patients in North Wales to the UK-wide study, which will continue to monitor patients until at least 2028.

The research aims to assess the long-term safety of biologic treatments for psoriasis - a skin condition which typically causes red, flaky, crusty patches of skin covered with silvery scales - which target a specific area of a patient’s immune system.

These drugs are used to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

Ysbyty Gwynedd originally joined the study in 2011 and then in 2013 research officer Caroline Mulvaney Jones joined the project full-time to enhance the recruitment process.

There are now 63 patients registered with the study at Ysbyty Gwynedd compared to six just three years ago.

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