For patients with prurigo nodularis, dupilumab yields significant improvements in itch response and skin lesions, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, held from March 25 to 29 in Boston.

Gil Yosipovitch, M.D., from the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, and colleagues conducted a randomized placebo-controlled phase 3 trial in adults with prurigo nodularis with ≥20 nodules and severe itch, inadequately controlled with topical prescription therapies or for whom these therapies are inadvisable. Patients received dupilumab 300 mg subcutaneously or matching placebo every two weeks for 24 weeks (78 and 82 patients, respectively).

The researchers found that among dupilumab- and placebo-treated patients, 37.2 and 22.0 percent, respectively, achieved a ≥4-point reduction in the 24h Worst-Itch Numeric Rating Scale (WI-NRS) at week 12, and 57.7 and 19.5 percent, respectively, achieved a ≥4-point reduction in the WI-NRS at week 24. At week 24, 44.9 and 15.9 percent, respectively, achieved an Investigator's Global Assessment Prurigo Nodularis-Stage of 0 or 1. For dupilumab versus placebo, the rate of treatment-emergent adverse events was 57.1 versus 51.2 percent.

"Dupilumab demonstrated clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvements in itch response and skin lesions versus placebo in adult patients with prurigo nodularis," the authors write.

The study was funded by Sanofi and Regeneron, the manufacturers of dupilumab.

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