Anti-Interleukin-31 Receptor A Antibody for Atopic Dermatitis.
Ruzicka T, Hanifin JM, Furue M, Pulka G, Mlynarczyk I, Wollenberg A, Galus R, Etoh T, Mihara R, Yoshida H, Stewart J, Kabashima K; XCIMA Study Group..
N Engl J Med. 2017 Mar 2;376(9):826-835. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1606490.
-Atopic Dermatitis is a chronic itch inflammatory dermatosis which can be very difficult to treat and the arrival of biologic therapy (and small molecules) from the pipeline will give the dermatologist a new therapeutical armamentarium.
-Il-31 blocking has been shown to be effective to abolish itch in monkeys (see link here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=738)) and this study confirms this finding in humans in a phase 2 study performed in 264 patients.
Dosing: subcutaneous injection once every 4 weeks at a dose of 0.1 mg/kg, 0.5 mg/kg, and 2.0 mg/kg (or 2.0 mg/kg for 8 weeks)
Over 12 weeks, comparing to placebo there was a reduction of pruritus ranging from 43% to 63% (placebo 20%). The results comparing the drug with the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) were less conclusive.
Comment: Il-31 has been shown in pre-clinical studies and here to have a fundamental role in itch. In order to evaluate the safety of the drug phase 3 studies and patient monitoring are still required.
-The abstract of the article can be viewed here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28249150
-Review of the current biologics in AD & the Il-31 “story”: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=738
CFH