This video interview with Lawrence Eichenfield, MD, featured a discussion about the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s July approval of Verrica Pharmaceuticals’ VP-102 for molluscum contagiosum, the first treatment indicated for the skin disease.¹

Eichenfield works as the chief of pediatric and adolescent dermatology for Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego, as well as professor of dermatology and pediatrics and vice-chair of the Department of Dermatology at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

In his discussion, Eichenfield went into a description of the medication for disease’s treatment.

“Yeah, we've never had an approved medication for treatment of molluscum contagiosum, this very common viral condition presents with lumps on the skin. And I think because we've never had good studies to show the utility of a product or an approved product, and there were sort of differential approaches to how aggressive we should be with molluscum.”

He went into a description of the new treatment, as well as his team’s research into its use for patients with molluscum contagiosum.

The treatment was developed as a drug-device combination product using a controlled formulation of cantharidin (0.7% w/v) and it is designed to be administered with a single-use applicator with topical dosing as well as targeted delivery.

VP-102’s New Drug Application (NDA) was backed by data from the clinical trials titled CAMP-1 and CAMP-2, the results of which showed a much higher rate of complete clearance of lesions as well as a reduction in lesion count versus control at 84 days (P <.0001).

Further examinations conducted following the CAMP trials suggested that a noticeably larger percentage of participants using VP-102 achieved total clearance of lesions versus those using the vehicle. This outcome was shown to be true for all of the affected regions, even the areas known to be the most sensitive.

Throughout both trials, specific undesirable occurrences were seen among those who were given VP-102. These included sensations of itch, blister formation, noted discomfort, and redness at the place of application.

“So, basically, this product is set up as a standardized, 0.7% concentration of cantharadin with a unique applicator device that comes with a colorant in it and with it being designed, when you crack open the the little tube, you can physically easily apply drops of the cantharadin to multiple molluscum. And you can easily get 40 plus molluscum treated with this.”

The quotes used in this description were edited for clarity.

References

1. ^{Verrica Pharmaceuticals Announces FDA Approval of YCANTH™ (cantharidin) topical solution 0.7%. News release. Verrica Pharmaceuticals. Published July 21, 2023. https://verrica.com/press_release/verrica-pharmaceuticals-announces-fda-approval-of-ycanth-cantharidin-topical-solution-0-7/}