Completed Digestion, Kidneys & Other Organs Cancer

Gran Lab Ltd.

Funder InnovateUK (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation Gran Lab Limited
Funding £292K
Period May 2025 — May 2026

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

Inverse psoriasis, a painful rash in skin folds, has a new non-steroidal candidate treatment called GL-1 that outperforms standard hydrocortisone creams in lab tests. This matters because current options for the 3–7% of psoriasis patients with the inverse form often fail. Half of patients develop resistance to treatments, 70% report a major hit to quality of life, and 35% face intimacy problems. People of colour are misdiagnosed 52% more often, leading to worse care. GL-1 is designed to work across diverse skin types, colours, and textures from the start, addressing a long-standing equity gap in dermatology. If GL-1 succeeds in the next phase—validating its mechanism and optimising delivery using 3D tissue models—it could become a first-line, non-corrosive, non-irritant option for a condition that has few good alternatives. The project does not claim to cure psoriasis, but it targets a specific, underserved subset of patients with a formulation that avoids the side effects of steroids and the resistance seen with other drugs.

View original technical description
Inverse psoriasis is a challenging form of psoriasis that affects skin folds, making it difficult to treat. Of the 30 million psoriasis sufferers worldwide, 3--7% have inverse psoriasis. While there are several treatment options available, they often have limitations and side effects, with 70% of patients reporting a major negative effect on their quality of life, 50% developing resistance to treatments, and 35% reporting higher rates of intimacy issues. GL-1 is a novel, non-steroidal treatment for inverse psoriasis which outperforms conventional hydrocortisone treatments and demonstrates non-corrosive, nonirritant, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. This project aims to validate GL-1's mechanism of action and formulation characteristics through advanced 3D tissue models, optimising delivery systems for inverse psoriasis application. Central to Gran Lab's ethos is equity of access to diverse skin types. People of colour face 52% higher misdiagnosis rates for psoriasis and subsequently poorer or inadequate treatment regimens. Studies for GL-1 have purposefully accommodated a range of skin types, colours, and textures to ensure outcomes are equally applicable to all communities.

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