THURSDAY, March 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) — For adults and adolescents with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis, 16 weeks of lebrikizumab is effective, according to a study published online March 15 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Jonathan I. Silverberg, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., and colleagues conducted two identically designed, 52-week trials including a 16-week induction period and a 36-week maintenance period. Eligible patients were adults and adolescents with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis who were randomly assigned to receive lebrikizumab or placebo (283 and 141 patients, respectively, in trial 1; 281 and 146 patients, respectively, in trial 2), administered subcutaneously every two weeks.

The researchers found that in trial 1, the primary outcome of an Investigator’s Global Assessment score of 0 or 1, with a reduction of at least 2 points from baseline at week 16, was met by 43.1 and 12.7 percent of patients in the lebrikizumab and placebo groups, respectively, and a 75 percent improvement in the Eczema Area and Severity Index score (EASI-75 response) occurred in 58.8 and 16.2 percent, respectively. In trial 2, the primary outcome was met by 33.2 and 10.8 percent in the lebrikizumab and placebo groups, respectively; and an EASI-75 response occurred in 52.1 and 18.1 percent, respectively.

“Treatment with lebrikizumab led to significant improvements with regard to the signs and symptoms of moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis in adults and adolescents,” the authors write.

The study was funded by Dermira, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of lebrikizumab.

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