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Dupilumab improves patient-reported outcomes in AD

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HOUSTON — Dupilumab reduced patient-reported itch when compared with placebo in adults with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis, according to data presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Meeting.

“I think one of the most major frustrations as physicians is that we really don’t have much to offer these patients except for steroid creams — drugs that are off-label use for atopic dermatitis — and [dupilumab] potentially is a great new therapeutic option for them,” Weily Soong, MD, FAAAAI, of the Alabama Allergy and Asthma Center, told Healio.com/Allergy.

Dupilumab (Regeneron Pharmaceuticals/Sanofi) is an investigational monoclonal antibody that blocks interleukin-4 (IL-4) and IL-13.

In a phase 2 study, Soong and colleagues randomly assigned 380 adults with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD) to a 16-week treatment with subcutaneous placebo or dupilumab 100 mg every 4 weeks, 300 mg every 4 weeks, 200 mg every 2 weeks, 300 mg every 2 weeks or 300 mg weekly.

The researchers assessed variables such as Patient Oriented Eczema Measure and Dermatology Life Quality Index.

After 16 weeks of therapy, dupilumab reduced itch by more than three points on the Pruritus Numeric Rating Scale in 20% to 54% of patients vs. 8.2% in the placebo group (P < .0005)

Dupilumab also reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety on Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale with the number of patients with scores greater than 11 — indicating probable cases of anxiety or depression — decreased by 66.7% to 75% in dupilumab vs. 22.2% in placebo group (P < .05 in all doses).

Common adverse events in the dupilumab arm as opposed to placebo were nasopharyngitis (20.6% vs. 21.3%), headache (11.1% vs. 3.3%) and injection site reaction (9.5% vs. 3.3%).

“We’re literally throwing the kitchen sink at these patients trying to figure what else can you use, and you’re having to give them the pros and cons of the side effects of all these off-label use of medicines,” he said. “[Dupilumab] has a lot of potential benefit for them.” – by Ryan McDonald 

Reference:

Simpson E, et al. Abstract 544. Presented at: American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Meeting; Feb. 20-24, 2015; Houston.

Disclosure: Simpson reports consultancy with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.