WEDNESDAY, March 19, 2025 -- Delgocitinib cream is well tolerated and efficacious for maintaining disease control up to 52 weeks in patients with chronic hand eczema (CHE), according to a study published online March 11 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Melinda Gooderham, M.D., from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues examined the long-term safety and efficacy of delgocitinib cream as needed for 36 weeks in adults with CHE in a phase 3 open-label trial (DELTA-3). A total of 801 patients who completed the 16-week treatment period in DELTA 1 and 2 were treated on an as-needed basis with twice-daily delgocitinib. Patients with Investigator's Global Assessment for CHE (IGA-CHE) ≥2 were treated until achievement of IGA-CHE ≤1.

The researchers found that delgocitinib was well tolerated, with COVID-19 and nasopharyngitis being the most frequent adverse events reported. Among delgocitinib-treated patients from the parent trials, DELTA-3 baseline IGA-CHE 0/1 (24.6 percent) and ≥75 percent/≥90 percent improvement in Hand Eczema Severity Index scores (51.8/31.8 percent) were maintained to week 36 (30.0 percent and 58.6/36.6 percent, respectively). Among those previously treated with cream vehicle, there was corresponding improvement from the DELTA 3 baseline of 9.1 percent and 23.7/12.0 percent to 29.5 percent and 51.5/35.7 percent, respectively, at week 36.

"Long-term delgocitinib treatment (up to 52 weeks for delgocitinib-treated patients in parent trials [DELTA 1 or DELTA 2]) with as-needed twice-daily delgocitinib cream for 36 weeks was well tolerated and no major safety concerns were identified in adult patients with CHE," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including LEO Pharma, which manufactures delgocitinib and funded DELTA-3.