Encapsulated benzoyl peroxide safe, efficacious for long-term rosacea treatment

WAILEA, Hawaii — Daily application of encapsulated benzoyl peroxide was safe, efficacious and well tolerated in patients with rosacea, according to a poster presented at Maui Derm for Dermatologists.

“The utility of BPO (benzoyl peroxide) in rosacea has been limited due to limited data on efficacy and adverse skin tolerability,” Neal D. Bhatia, MD, of Therapeutics Clinical research in San Diego, and colleagues wrote. “A new formulation incorporating microencapsulation technology is tolerable over long-term use.”

This 52-week extension trial included 547 adults who were previously enrolled in two 12-week double-blind, vehicle-controlled phase 3 trials.

All patients were treated with encapsulated BPO (E-BPO) daily for up to 40 weeks in the extension period. Treatment continued if Investigator Global Assessment score was greater than 1.

Adverse events related to the drug included application site erythema (1.1%) and application site pain (1.1%). There were no clinically significant safety findings.

Facial erythema was improved in 73.2% of subjects and patients reported improvement from baseline to the end of the trial in total score, symptom subscale score, function subscale score and emotional subscale score as measured by the Rosacea Quality of Life questionnaire.

“The cutaneous safety and local tolerability assessments demonstrated that E-BPO, when applied once daily for up to 52 weeks, was generally safe and well-tolerated,” the authors wrote. “The evaluations of IGA score and facial erythema showed improved clinical outcomes after 4 weeks and for up to 52 weeks of treatment with E-BPO.”