Reconval

Reconval is a German brand of two pharmacy creams, Reconval K1 and Reconval B6, made for people whose skin is damaged by cancer treatment or by injectable immune therapy for multiple sclerosis. The brand is operated by MEDICIS Health GmbH, a Munich company registered at the Munich local court [2]. Rather than addressing everyday skincare, Reconval describes its purpose as protecting the skin so that side effects do not get in the way of the medical treatment itself.

The brand first reached the trade press in November 2017, when its creams were launched in the United Kingdom [12]. It remains active, with its creams sold mainly through pharmacies, both in shops and online.

No founding year or founding story for Reconval has been published. The earliest dated event is its UK launch, reported by the pharmaceutical trade title PharmaTimes on 27 November 2017. The report described Reconval K1 and Reconval B6 as "two new products" from the specialty pharma company Medicis Health, launched for patients receiving treatment for cancer and multiple sclerosis [12].

The article set out the problem the creams were designed for. According to PharmaTimes, around 80 percent of patients on targeted cancer treatments face skin side effects, and in 5 to 20 percent of cases these are severe enough to lead to a reduced dose or a stopped treatment [12]. Medicis told the publication that such symptoms can appear eight to ten days after therapy begins. The piece quoted Kai Deusch, a physician and the company's chief executive, who said the products had been of value to physicians, nurses and patients in preventing and managing skin problems linked to cancer drugs.

In April 2018, the journal Annals of Oncology published the EVITA trial, a study of a vitamin K1 cream used to prevent skin rash in colorectal cancer patients. The brand's press page lists that paper under its own press coverage [3], alongside a commentary on it from the same journal issue. The trial abstract itself does not name Reconval.

Reconval belongs to MEDICIS Health GmbH, which has its registered address on Nymphenburger Strasse in Munich. The company's legal notice names Kai Deusch as its authorised representative [2], and the MEDICIS corporate website lists him as chief executive. No source describes him as the founder of the brand.

MEDICIS describes itself as a developer and marketer of medical products, both for patients with serious illnesses such as cancer and autoimmune disease and for healthy people facing issues like insect-borne disease or scarring [11]. Reconval sits in the company's "Supportive Cancer Care" area. The same portfolio includes the Doctan range of insect repellents, the Doctan Insect Stick for relieving itching after bites, and Contrakel, a cream for raised and sunken scars and keloids.

For pharmacy sales, the Reconval website names a distribution partner, IMstam healthcare GmbH of Angermünde, as the contact for pharmacies that want to stock the products [4].

Reconval frames its creams as supportive care rather than cosmetics in the usual sense. Its English-language homepage says the brand "safeguards the efficacy of your cancer treatment against severe drug related skin toxicity" [10]. The German tagline makes the same point more plainly: the aim is that severe skin side effects should not compromise the patient's therapy.

The reasoning runs through the brand's material. Some cancer drugs and radiotherapy can leave the skin so inflamed, cracked or painful that doctors lower the dose or pause treatment. Reconval presents prevention as the answer, advising patients to start the creams on the first day of therapy rather than waiting for symptoms. The company's own language centres on quality of life and on keeping patients on the treatment their doctor intended.

This places the brand at the edge of the beauty category. Its audience is not defined by skin type or taste but by diagnosis: people on anti-cancer drugs, chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and people with multiple sclerosis who inject immune therapies.

The range consists of two 50 ml creams, each tied to a specific type of treatment.

Reconval K1 is aimed at the skin reactions caused by anti-EGFR drugs. These targeted cancer medicines block a growth signal on cells, and a common side effect is an acne-like skin rash. The company says that using the cream as a preventive measure protects against severe skin changes during this kind of therapy [9]. It also recommends K1 for reactions at the injection site during beta-interferon treatment for multiple sclerosis. On its multiple sclerosis page, Reconval says the cream protects against these side effects and so allows patients to receive their optimal dose, and it cites the VIKING study of a vitamin K cream, published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal in 2015, as background reading [8].

Reconval B6 targets hand-foot syndrome, a side effect of some chemotherapy in which the palms and soles become red, swollen and painful, and the skin may peel, blister or crack. The syndrome can make walking or holding objects difficult. According to Reconval, preventive use of B6 reduces the occurrence of hand-foot syndrome and of skin reddening during chemotherapy and radiotherapy [6]. The brand says the cream contains vitamin B6 together with other substances that keep the skin moist. Its instructions are to shower in lukewarm water, pat the skin dry, and apply the cream twice daily to the palms and soles, starting on day one of cancer treatment.

The company does not publish a study naming Reconval B6 on its product page.

The clearest independent evidence connected to the brand is the EVITA trial, a double-blind, randomised phase II study of 126 analysed patients with metastatic colorectal cancer treated with the anti-EGFR drug cetuximab. Patients received either a vitamin K1 cream or an inactive base cream, both alongside the antibiotic doxycycline [13].

The results were mixed. The study's main goal, a lower rate of moderate or worse skin rash, was not met: the rate was comparable in both groups. However, from the fifth week onwards, patients using the vitamin K1 cream had less severe rash and fewer skin cracks when measured with a more detailed scoring tool known as WoMo [13]. Quality of life and compliance with treatment were similar in both groups.

Reconval's press page links to this trial, but the published abstract does not identify the cream used as a Reconval product.

Reconval is an active brand. Its German and English websites are online and continue to direct buyers to pharmacies, both local and online. The brand's publicly dated news is concentrated in 2017 and 2018, around the UK launch and the EVITA publication, and no later product launches have been announced.