Drug Design, Development and Therapy (Mar 2021)

The Efficacy and Safety of Abrocitinib as a Treatment Option for Atopic Dermatitis: A Short Report of the Clinical Data

  • Napolitano M,
  • Fabbrocini G,
  • Ruggiero A,
  • Marino V,
  • Nocerino M,
  • Patruno C

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 15
pp. 1135 – 1147

Abstract

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Maddalena Napolitano,1 Gabriella Fabbrocini,2 Angelo Ruggiero,2 Vincenzo Marino,2 Mariateresa Nocerino,2 Cataldo Patruno3 1Department of Medicine and Health Sciences Vincenzo Tiberio, University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy; 2Section of Dermatology, Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy; 3Department of Health Sciences, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, ItalyCorrespondence: Maddalena NapolitanoDepartment of Medicine and Health Sciences Vincenzo Tiberio, University of Molise, Campobasso, ItalyTel +39 0817462439Email [email protected]: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, pruritic, inflammatory skin disease that predominantly affects children. However, it can persist in adulthood and/or start at older ages. Both dysfunction of the epidermal barrier and immune dysregulation are known to play a role in the pathogenesis of AD. In the last years, numerous studies showed that Janus kinase (JAK) enzymes have a key role in AD pathogenesis. Therefore, oral and topical JAK inhibitors are new emerging treatments for AD. We report the data relating to abrocitinib, an oral JAK1 inhibitor. For this purpose, we examined articles already published concerning, in particular, concluded clinical trials. Furthermore, we also report the design of current ongoing clinical trials. The search was carried out considering the main search engines relating to medical literature and clinical trials. From all the data we collected, abrocitinib proved to be an effective drug in significantly reducing the severity of moderate-to-severe AD when compared to placebo. Furthermore, the efficacy was similar to other well-established treatment for AD, such as dupilumab. Adverse events were generally mild; indeed, the drug was definitively suspended only in few patients.Keywords: atopic dermatitis, abrocitinib, JAK inhibitors, JAK-STAT

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