Early trial results of VYN201 show success in vitiligo

Key takeaways:

• VYN201 is a pan-bromodomain BET inhibitor designed to address inflammatory cell signaling pathways.
• Patients treated with topical VYN201 showed downregulation of MMP-9 and upregulation of MRTFs.

VYN201 showed positive effects on biomarkers of vitiligo in a phase 1b trial, VYNE Therapeutics announced in a press release.

A pan-bromodomain BET inhibitor, VYN201 is designed to be a locally administered “soft” drug addressing inflammatory cell signaling pathways.

The 16-week, open label, phase 1b trial included 29 patients with active nonsegmental vitiligo who were randomly assigned to receive one of three doses of topical VYN201 — 0.5%, 1% or 2% — to use on one lesion once daily.

Biopsies taken before treatment and at 8 weeks were analyzed for vitiligo-associated biomarkers, melanocyte proliferation and melanogenesis.

Downregulation of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) was shown in a median of 40.8% of lesional skin for patients in the 2% treatment group. This cohort also exhibited a median upregulation of melanocyte-related transcription factors (MRTFs) of 36.1% for SOX10, 90.2% for LEF1 and 16.5% for beta-Catenin, as well as 15.2% for microphthalmia-associated transcription factor, according to the release.

“We are encouraged by these new biomarker data from the phase 1b trial for VYN201, building on our recently announced positive clinical results,” David Domzalski, president and CEO of VYNE, said in the release. “We’ve made considerable progress in advancing this program, and we look forward to initiating a phase 2b trial evaluating VYN201 in patients with both active and stable nonsegmental vitiligo in the second quarter of this year.”