Long-term ruxolitinib cream improves facial, body repigmentation
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BOSTON — Vitiligo patients treated with topical ruxolitinib cream experienced increasing improvement through 52 weeks, according to a trial presented at the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting.
“There is not a single medicine FDA-approved for repigmenting vitiligo,” David Rosmarin, MD, clinical investigator and vice-chair for research and education at Tufts Medical Center, told Healio.
Rosmarin presented data from two identical phase 3 studies, TRuE-V1 and TRuE-V2, which each included more than 300 vitiligo patients. Each trial had a 24-week double-blind period, in which patients were randomly assigned to receive ruxolitinib cream 1.5% or vehicle two times a day; a 28-week extension period, in which all patients received twice daily ruxolitinib cream; and a 30-day follow-up period.
A 75% improvement in Facial Vitiligo Area Scoring Index (F-VASI75) was reported in 52.6% and 48% of the ruxolitinib cream cohorts at week 52 and 26.8% and 29.6% of those in the vehicle-to-ruxolitinib cream groups. This was a continued improvement from week 24, where 29.8% and 30.9% of the vitiligo groups experienced F-VASI75.
F-VASI50 was achieved by 75.1% and 74% of the ruxolitinib cream groups at week 52 and 56.1% and 49.4% of the vehicle-to-ruxolitinib cream cohorts.
A 50% improvement in total body Vitiligo Area Scoring Index (T-VASI50) occurred in 53.2% and 49.2% of the treatment group at week 52 and 31.7% and 22.2% of the vehicle-to-treatment groups. At 24 weeks, 20.6% and 23.9% of the treatment group had reached T-VASI50.
A Vitiligo Noticeability Scale response was recorded in 33.9% and 32.8% of patients in the treatment group, respectively.
“With continued use of ruxolitinib cream beyond 6 months we are still seeing patients do better and still getting pigment back,” Rosmarin said. “Vitiligo can take more time than some of our other conditions to improve and the additional time using the treatment reaps additional benefit.”