Rituximab increases bullous pemphigoid remission

Rituximab contributed to reaching complete remission and reduced steroid use in patients with bullous pemphigoid, but did not increase overall survival, according to a poster presented at the American Academy of Dermatology virtual meeting.

A retroactive cohort study included 83 bullous pemphigoid patients seen at a single center between August 2009 and June 2018. Those who received rituximab therapy within the first 12 weeks of treatment were included in the treatment group, while those who did not receive rituximab in the first 48 weeks were included in the control group.

Those in the treatment group had a 75% remission rate within the first 48 weeks of treatment, compared to 25% in the control group (P = .001). The median days to first remission was 190.0 (148.3-231.7) in the rituximab group, compared to 567.0 (262.9-871.0) in the control group.

Average survival time, based on 144 days of follow up, was 931.4 days (866.7-996.2) in the treatment group and 859.2 days (778.7-939.6) in the control group.

"Rituximab is confirmed to be a significant contributor to reaching first complete remission and an effective steroid-sparing agent for patients with bullous pemphigoid within our study population,” the authors wrote.

This is the largest case series to date evaluating the use of rituximab in bullous pemphigoid. The retrospective design of the study was a limitation, as was the limited sample size and single center evaluation, the authors noted.