Karan Lal, DO: Topical Berdazimer Gel for Patients with Molluscum Contagiosum

During a recent interview with HCPLive, Karan Lal, DO, MS, FAAD, the director of pediatric dermatology and cosmetic surgery for Affiliated Dermatology Scottsdale, spoke on recent clinical trial data regarding berdazimer gel. Lal also holds the social media chair position for the Society for Pediatric Dermatology.

In his interview, Lal discussed the condition of molluscum contagiosum (MC). MC is known among dermatologists as a pox virus-borne dermatologic infection which can lead to lesions and scars and is predominant in younger patients.

The condition is among the most contagious skin conditions, affecting about 6 million people per year in the US, with the greatest incidence occurring in children 1-14 years old.

“Yeah, so molluscum contagiosum is a very common viral infection,” Lal said. “It's something all pediatricians, all dermatologists, all pediatric dermatologists see all the time. We kind of all have this similar algorithm and we treat molluscum.”

Lal went into a recent 12-week, multicenter, open label trial examining the safety of berdazimer gel for MC patients. Berdazimer sodium, the active ingredient in the gel, is a component combined with nitric oxide (NO) release-promoting hydrogrel designed to address MC.

“So the recent study published the pharmacokinetic profile safety and tolerability of topical berdazimer gel in patients with molluscum in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology,” he explained. “This was a 12-week open label multicenter trial that looked at the safety, tolerability, and the pharmacokinetic parameters of this gel when it was applied once daily to the patients who had molluscum at maximum use conditions.”

Lal also mentioned that the study found berdazimer to be a safe and well-tolerated medication with minimal systemic absorption, further describing the results of the trial and what they mean for MC patients in the future.

For more information on the drug trial, watch the full HCPLive interview with Dr. Lal above.