For patients with molluscum contagiosum (MC), topical berdazimer gel 10.3 percent is associated with a significant reduction in lesion count by four weeks, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, held from March 25 to 29 in Boston.

John C. Browning, M.D., from Texas Dermatology in San Antonio, and colleagues conducted a multicenter, randomized, vehicle-controlled trial to examine the efficacy and safety of berdazimer 10.3 percent for the treatment of MC in 891 participants. A total of 447 and 444 patients with three to 70 raised and palpable molluscum lesions were randomly assigned to vehicle or berdazimer, respectively, for 12 weeks.

The researchers found that significantly more patients receiving berdazimer had complete clearance of all lesions by week 4 (7.2 versus 3.6 percent), week 8 (19.6 versus 11.6 percent), and week 12 (32.4 versus 19.7 percent). At least one treatment-emergent adverse event (TEAE) occurred in 23.0 and 43.0 percent of patients receiving vehicle and berdazimer, respectively; 0.7 and 4.1 percent of patients, respectively, had at least one TEAE leading to study drug discontinuation. Application site pain and erythema were the most common TEAEs; pain was mostly transient. Erythema was the most frequent local skin reaction and occurred more often in berdazimer-treated patients.

"In B-SIMPLE4, berdazimer 10.3 percent once-daily treatment, MC showed lesion count reduction by four weeks, with continuous improvement over time," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to Novan, which manufactures berdazimer and funded the study.

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