Biologic Treatments for Moderate to Severe Atopic Dermatitis

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Symptomatic relief remains out of reach for many who suffer chronic pruritis. Without drugs specifically approved to treat chronic itch, providers and patients rely on therapies with limited efficacy. Here’s an update of two important clinical trials.

Moisturizers were described as the “cornerstone of therapy” in atopic dermatitis in the 2014 AAD guidelines for topical therapies in atopic dermatitis, but the products differ greatly by ingredients which can improve the condition or make it worse.

Until recently, atopic dermatitis treatments were primarily limited to topical corticosteroids and systemic immunosuppressants. Now, two new therapies have reached clinical practice. Nineteen more are in development.

Long-term data for dupilumab in atopic dermatitis revealed at the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) 75th Annual Meeting reflect safety, rapid relief of troublesome symptoms and a long-lived response in keeping with the drug’s breakthrough status, experts told Dermatology Times.

A new research center makes a database of five million human pathology specimens and 22,000 living consented patients, all searchable by diagnoses, as well as cutting edge human analytic techniques available to anyone interested in carrying out translational skin disease research on human cells and tissues.

Microbial colonization in the development of inflammatory conditions and immune-mediated conditions is a hot research topic, and new dermatologic therapies can potentially result from greater understanding of the role of microbial communities on the skin and in the gut.