Dupilumab had an 86% two-year medication survival rate, however it was ineffective for treating atopic dermatitis (AD) in the head and neck, and 25% of patients had conjunctivitis, says an article published in Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

After approval, it is crucial to assess the efficacy and safety of novel systemic therapies for atopic dermatitis (AD). There aren't many published studies using dupilumab longer than 52 weeks. In order to investigate the safety, efficacy, and drug survival of dupilumab in a Danish national cohort with moderate-to-severe AD up to 104 weeks exposure, Vittrup and company carried out this study. 347 adult AD patients who received dupilumab treatment and were recorded in the SCRATCH registry between 2017 and 2022 were included in this study.

The key findings of this study were:
1. Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) [median (IQR)] measurements of AD severity showed improvement at all visits.

2. EASI score at baseline was 18.0 (10.6-25.2); at weeks 4, 16, and 52, it was 6.5 (3.5-11.6), 3.7 (1.2-6.2), and 1.7 at weeks 104. (0.8-3.8).
3. While medication survival rates were excellent (week 52: 90%; week 104: 86%), the majority of patients continued to have significant levels of AD in the head and neck region; the proportion of patients with head and neck AD at baseline was 76% and 68% at week 104.
4. Any AE was reported by 35% of subjects.
5. The most prevalent condition was conjunctivitis, which affected 25% of all patients, and its first diagnosis took 201 days on average to manifest.
In this trial, the researchers observed sustained medication persistence after 104 weeks and reported no new safety signals with extended dupilumab therapy. Notably, dupilumab was ineffective in treating AD in the head and neck.
Reference:
Vittrup, I., Krogh, N. S., Larsen, H. H. P., Elberling, J., Skov, L., Ibler, K. S., Jemec, G. B. E., Mortz, C. G., Bach, R. O., Bindslev‐Jensen, C., Dalager, M. G., Egeberg, A., Agner, T., Deleuran, M., Vestergaard, C., & Thyssen, J. P. (2023). A nationwide 104 weeks real‐world study of dupilumab in adults with atopic dermatitis: ineffectiveness in head‐and‐neck dermatitis. In Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1111/jdv.18849