Enrollment complete in phase 1/2b hand eczema study

Arcutis Biotherapeutics has completed enrollment in a phase 1/2b study of ARQ-252, a JAK1 inhibitor, for the treatment of chronic hand eczema, according to a press release.

The phase 1 part of the study is assessing the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of ARQ-252 cream 0.3% once daily in seven subjects.

The phase 2b part of the trial includes 223 subjects and will assess the safety and efficacy of ARQ-252 cream 0.1% once daily and ARQ-252 cream 0.3% once or twice daily compared with vehicle once or twice daily, the release said.

“More than 8 million people in the U.S. suffer from hand eczema, and patients often have to make trade-offs between drug efficacy, safety and tolerability with current available treatments,” Patrick Burnett, MD, PhD, FAAD, chief medical officer of Arcutis, said in the release. “ARQ-252 has demonstrated robust potency and high selectivity for JAK1 over JAK2, thereby giving it the potential to deliver efficacy without causing the side effects typical of other less selective JAK inhibitors. Given this, we believe ARQ-252 has the potential to reduce the need to compromise between safety and efficacy.”

Topline data are expected by mid-2021.