New Drug Offers Hope To Millions With Severe Eczema

There’s hope around the corner for those who suffer from eczema, an infuriatingly itchy skin condition with no cure and little consensus on the best course of treatment. The inflammatory skin condition has been historically difficult to treat because the medicines on the market just aren’t that effective, especially for moderate to severe cases. They also have serious side effects and can be toxic.  But now a new medicine called Dupilumab has shown great promise in current clinical trials. Up to 38 percent of trial participants were completely cleared or almost cleared of their inflamed red and scaly skin patches after a 16-week course of treatment. As a group, they experienced significant decreases in itchiness, severity of rash and improvements in depression, anxiety and quality of life.   The medicine, which can be self-administered via injection, had already been designated a “breakthrough therapy” by the FDA, which means it’s on the fast-track to government approval.  An estimated three percent of all U.S. adults have moderate to severe eczema that requires systemic therapy, according to the National Eczema Association. And because there is no reliably safe, convenient and effective way to treat their skin lesions, the need for something like Dupilumab is huge ― especially if long-term trials validate its safety.  Oregon Health & Science University researcher Dr. Eric Simpson, lead investigator of the phase three cl...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news