Sanofi and Regeneron’s Dupixent (dupilumab) has been granted approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat bullous pemphigoid (BP) in adults.

The drug is now the only targeted medicine approved in the US to treat the chronic and relapsing skin disease, the partners outlined.

Approximately 27,000 adults in the US are living with BP that is uncontrolled by systemic corticosteroids. The condition mainly affects older adults and is characterised by intense itch, painful blisters and lesions, as well as reddening of the skin.

The FDA’s decision was supported by positive results from the phase 2/3 ADEPT trial, which randomised 106 adults with moderate-to-severe BP to receive Dupixent 300mg or placebo added to standard-of-care oral corticosteroids.

The study met its primary endpoint, with 18.3% of Dupixent-treated patients experiencing sustained disease remission compared to 6.1% of those in the placebo group at 36 weeks.

At the same time point, 38.3% of patients being treated with Dupixent achieved clinically meaningful itch reduction compared to 10.5%, and oral corticosteroid use was lower in the Dupixent group.

UCB has announced positive new three-year data for its inflammatory disease drug Bimzelx (bimekizumab) in adults with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

Results from the phase 3 BE OPTIMAL and BE COMPLETE trials and their open-label extension study, BE VITAL, were presented at this year’s European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology Congress.

Approximately 125 million people worldwide are affected by some form of psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory condition that typically affects the skin, nails and joints. PsA, characterised by skin plaques, swollen toes and fingers, and joint pain and stiffness, affects around 30% of psoriasis patients.

Complete skin clearance, as assessed by a Psoriasis Area and Severity Index score of 100, was maintained to three years by 61.9% of patients who were naïve to biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARD-naïve) and by 67.5% of patients who were inadequate responders or intolerant to tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi-IR).

Minimal disease activity was sustained to three years by 52.9% and 48.8% of bDMARD-naïve and TNFi-IR patients, respectively, while 59.5% and 59.1% of bDMARD-naïve and TNFi-IR patients, respectively, achieved elimination of swollen joints at the same time point.

Galderma’s Nemluvio (nemolizumab) has demonstrated sustained and clinically meaningful improvements in the key signs and symptoms of prurigo nodularis, according to results from a long-term extension (LTE) study of the drug.

Data from an interim analysis of the OLYMPIA LTE, presented at this year’s International Congress of Dermatology, showed that more than 90% and 70% of evaluable patients achieved at least a four-point improvement in itch, and were itch free or nearly itch free, respectively, at week 100.

At the same time point, at least 80% of patients in the trial achieved 76% to 100% healed pruriginous lesions, and around 75% experienced clearance or almost-clearance of skin nodules.

The drug was also found to be well tolerated, with no new safety signals identified in the study to date.

Estimated to affect up to 181,000 people in the US, prurigo nodularis is a chronic skin disorder characterised by intense itch and thick skin nodules covering large body areas.

Nemluvio, which was initially developed by Chugai Pharmaceutical, is designed to address the underlying cause of the disorder by inhibiting signalling of the neuroimmune cytokine IL-31.

Nektar Therapeutics has shared positive results from a phase 2b study of investigational rezpegaldesleukin in atopic dermatitis (AD).

The ongoing REZOLVE-AD trial randomised over 390 patients with moderate-to-severe AD to receive one of three doses of the candidate or placebo.

The trial met its primary endpoint, with all doses of rezpegaldesleukin demonstrating significant improvements on the Eczema Area and Severity Score (EASI) compared to placebo at week 16.

The high dose of rezpegaldesleukin achieved a 61% mean improvement in EASI from baseline versus a 31% improvement in the placebo cohort, while the middle and low doses achieved 58% and 53% improvements, respectively.

At the same time point, all three rezpegaldesleukin dose arms achieved statistical significance for the key secondary endpoints of at least a 75% reduction in EASI from baseline, at least a 50% reduction in EASI from baseline and mean percent improvement in Body Surface Area score from baseline.

Patients receiving high and middle doses of the drug also achieved significant improvements in itch, and 25% of those in the high-dose group achieved at least a 90% reduction in EASI from baseline.