WEDNESDAY, April 30, 2025 (HealthDay News) -- For adolescents and adults with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD), once-daily ivarmacitinib is efficacious, according to a study published online April 30 in JAMA Dermatology.

Yan Zhao, Ph.D., from the Peking University People's Hospital in Beijing, and colleagues examined the efficacy and adverse events associated with ivarmacitinib among adolescents and adults with moderate-to-severe AD in a multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 randomized clinical trial. Patients aged 12 to 75 years were randomly assigned to receive once-daily 4- or 8-mg ivarmacitinib or placebo for 16 weeks (113, 112, and 111 patients, respectively).

The researchers found that at week 16, significantly more patients in the 4-mg and 8-mg ivarmacitinib groups achieved an Investigator Global Assessment score of 0 (clear) or 1 (almost clear) with at least a 2-grade improvement compared with those in the placebo group (36.3 and 42.0 percent, respectively, versus 9.0 percent). The ivarmacitinib groups also had significantly higher rates of Eczema Area and Severity Index score improvement of 75 percent (54.0 and 66.1 percent versus 21.6 percent in the 4-mg and 8-mg ivarmacitinib groups, respectively, versus placebo). Overall, 69.0, 66.1, and 64.9 percent of patients reported treatment-emergent adverse events in the 4-mg and 8-mg ivarmacitinib and placebo groups, respectively. Serious treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in 2.7, 1.8, and 2.7 percent, respectively.

"Ivarmacitinib represents a promising new treatment option for patients whose AD is not adequately controlled by topical therapies," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including Jiangsu Hengrui, which manufactures ivarmacitinib and funded the study.

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