“We synthesized thoughts about the immune system, a natural chemical that is an anti-inflammatory signal (itaconate), autoimmune disease pathogenesis, and pharmacology,” says Luis Garza, professor of dermatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Working with Johns Hopkins Drug Discovery scientists Barbara Slusher and Rana Rais, and Czech Academy of Sciences Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry chemists led by Pavel Majer, we capitalized on their prodrugs expertise to make a skin-penetrable, clinically viable candidate of 4-MI using prodrug technology.”