---
title: >-
  Persistent Inadequate Disease Control and Therapeutic Inertia in
  Moderate-to-Severe Atopic Dermatitis: A 12-month Longitudinal Analysis of
  Real-world Outcomes from the TARGET-DERM AD registry.
description: >-
  Explore this publication on real-world evidence: Persistent Inadequate Disease
  Control and Therapeutic Inertia in Moderate-to-Severe Atopic Dermatitis: A…
date: '2024-01-01'
category: Publications
tags:
  - Approval / Commercialization
  - Care
  - Atopic Dermatitis (AD)
  - Health System Partner
  - Pharma Partner
  - Poster Presentation
  - RAD Conference
  - Dermatology
canonical_url: >-
  https://www.pedestalhealth.com/resources/publications/approval-commercialization/persistent-inadequate-disease-control-and-therapeutic/
source: Pedestal Health
license: © 2026 Pedestal Health. All rights reserved.
slug: persistent-inadequate-disease-control-and-therapeutic
id: 12Ih4P5mHoGC1LFSt5CcNn
contentType: article
---

## Challenge

A significant proportion of moderate-to-severe AD patients receiving systemic therapy continue to have inadequate disease control over 12 months, but the real-world magnitude of therapeutic inertia—defined as failure to escalate despite unmet treat-to-target goals—had not been quantified using the AHEAD framework in a large US/Canadian registry.

## Solution

The TARGET-DERM AD registry was used to identify patients initiating their first systemic therapy with moderate-to-severe AD (vIGA-AD 3/4) and track the proportion who failed to achieve AHEAD moderate or optimal targets at 3–12 months without treatment escalation.

## Impact

Documenting that a large proportion of patients remain inadequately controlled without treatment escalation provides the real-world evidence base for prescriber education initiatives and supports the regulatory and commercial case for therapies that reliably achieve ambitious treat-to-target thresholds in moderate-to-severe AD.

### [Keith D. Knapp](/people/keith-knapp/)

### [Breda Munoz](/people/breda-munoz/)

![Breda Munoz, PhD — Profile Photo](https://images.ctfassets.net/h4s3ip99qawo/3H1T2mfvSNFj6w9tulnreq/a74ae05fe53e400f176d4e9c617b8fb8/breda-munoz.jpg)

### [Julie M. Crawford](/people/julie-crawford/)