Lawrence Eichenfield, MD: New Insights in Topical PDE4, JAK Inhibitors

Lawrence Eichenfield, MD, spoke in another interview segment with HCPLive on the topic of recent developments in the world of PDE4 and JAK inhibitors for atopic dermatitis (AD).

Eichenfield works as chief of pediatric and adolescent dermatology at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. He also serves as professor of dermatology and pediatrics, as well as the vice-chair of the department of dermatology at UC San Diego’s School of Medicine.

His presentation was given at the Revolutionizing Atopic Dermatitis (RAD) 2023 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

“I was really emphasizing sort of newer aspects and obviously was tasked with JAK inhibitors, PDE4, and put a little bit in of tapinarof which is neither of the 2 but relatively contemporaneous in terms of the development,” Eichenfield stated.

He added that topical ruxolitinib, a JAK1 and JAK2 inhibitor, has been around for a while but that now there have been expanded datasets and there has been longer term use of the drug in AD patients.

He noted that in his talk he highlighted a recent paper from the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology showing that after a single-year extension period, patients can still see continued success over time.

“But also highlighting that in real life use in this clinical study, especially in the long term part of the trial where people used it until they were essentially clear, then they stopped using it and they could go back on an on-and-off pattern…it showed effective disease control and tolerability and that the data supported its use as needed for longer term disease control, not just for short term disease,” he explained.

Then I moved over to discuss roflumilast,” he said. “It is a novel PDE4 approved for psoriasis already, and the first of 2 phase three trials has come out for atopic dermatitis. And this was in children ages 6 and older with 0.15% cream, which was a different formulation than approved in psoriasis, showed really positive results.”

For more information about these and other new insights, view the full interview segment above.

The quotes contained in this interview were edited for clarity.