Jonathan Silverberg, MD, PhD, MPH: The Implications of Abrocitinib for Atopic Dermatitis Care

Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved abrocitinib (CIBINQO) for the treatment of adults with refractory moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis whose disease is not adequately controlled with other systemic drugs including biologics.

In a statement offered by Pfizer Incorporated, Jonathan Silverberg, MD, PhD, MPH, Department of Dermatology at The George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, said the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor would “provide an important new oral option that could help those who have yet to find relief.”

In an interview with HCPLive, Silverberg spoke of the limited options that patients with atopic dermatitis have currently, and how the new therapy could help a larger number of patients and potentially change the landscape of atopic dermatitis management.

“We've really had very limited (treatment) options to date, so we certainly welcome new options for managing what is really a tough-to-treat patient population,” Silverberg said. “There's been a lot of promise and a lot of hope around the JAK inhibitors because they're targeted, but a little bit broader than going after a single targeted pathway. So, the hope was that we could get really even broader efficacy, but also maintaining good safety profile, and I think abrocitinib has lived up to that promise.”

The approval was supported by data from 5 clinical trials involving, 2 of which were monotherapy trials. Abrocitinib would be recommended in multiple doses including 100 mg and 200 mg, the latter of which was recommended for patients who do not respond to the 100 mg dose.

Silverberg noted that the dosing options, as well as the potency and rapid onset of effect of abrocitinib, provides physicians with a versatile and effective oral therapy that has been missing in the United States.

Though abrocitinib was only recently approved, he suspects that it will go on to transform the practice landscape, allowing patients greater opportunities to treat their condition.

“I think that I already see how it transformed my ability to counsel patients that I now have new options to offer them,” Silverberg said. “Patients want to be able to choose, they want to be engaged in their health care decision making…and now that we give them the options, I think this makes them ultimately happier. And it's funny because even if they don't choose abrocitinib right now, knowing that they can is very reassuring”

To hear more from Dr. Silverberg, watch the interview above.