A US research team found that a pill called upadacitinib, already approved for treating rheumatoid arthritis, might also ease another common immunological condition—eczema.
In three two-phase clinical trials in the Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, around 1,700 patients with moderate to severe eczema showed rapid and significant improvements after taking the drug. The findings were published in the Lancet Journal, on May 22.
"The results of these trials were so incredible that by week 16, most patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis [eczema] either had a 90% disease clearance, or even 100% disease clearance," Dr. Guttman Yassky, professor and chair of the department of dermatology at Mount Sinai, said in a news release.
According to the National Eczema Association, "people with eczema tend to have an over-reactive immune system that when triggered by a substance outside or inside the body, responds by producing inflammation. It is this inflammation that causes the red, itchy and painful skin symptoms common to most types of eczema."
Eczema affects more that 31 million American adults and between 10 to 20% of children, the study authors noted. The two new clinical trials involved a total of almost 1,700 patients and took place between 2018 and 2020.
Besides the rapid disease clearance noted in patients, "the itch improvements already started to be significant within days from the beginning of the trials, and the maximum clinical efficacy was obtained early, at week 4, and maintained to week 16," Guttman Yassky said.
The drug was well tolerated by patients who received the two highest doses of the drug—15 milligrams and 30 milligrams—and no significant safety risks were seen, she added.
Upadacitinib is already approved and marketed for use against rheumatoid arthritis under the brand name Rinvoq. It works by blocking what are known as multiple cytokine-signaling pathways—parts of the immune system that can malfunction and cause eczema.
