Etrasimod Shows Promise for Atopic Dermatitis

The investigational oral drug etrasimod may disrupt multiple pathways that cause acute and chronic disease phases of atopic dermatitis by disrupting sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P1).

At the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Virtual Meeting Experience 2021, Emma Guttman-Yassky, MD, PhD, the Sol and Clara Kest professor of dermatology and vice chair for research in the department of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, presented results from the ADVISE study.

In this exclusive MedPage Today video, Guttman-Yassky explains the findings.

Following is a transcript of her remarks:

At the AAD [meeting] I gave several presentations, including two late breakers. One was on the ADVISE study that was a study done with two doses of etrasimod -- 1 mg and 2 mg -- that were taken against a placebo; relatively a small study in phase II. Etrasimod is an S1P modulator that is now also in studies for ulcerative colitis, in phase III studies.

And this is an open mechanism of action that we as dermatologists really need to wrap our head around it, because it prevents immune cells or lymphocytes from getting into skin. And this was a short study -- it was only 12 weeks, and maybe 12 weeks is not enough to see the full action of this drug. And we see that also from the fact that at 12 weeks, there was not a plateau.

So we see that still it was going up, and I think it's kind of an indirect mechanism of action, so I think at 16 weeks and further we would see potentially better results, but in validated IGA [Investigator Global Assessment], the vIGA, so basically clear or almost clear, was significantly higher in patients on etrasimod 2 mg when compared to placebo. And it was around 30%.

And I think these are hopeful results for such a small study, and also it was accompanied by a significance in patients in related outcomes. And in atopic dermatitis we care a lot about this because it's a very itchy disease that prevents patients from sleeping and doing their normal daily activities.

So I think it's an important study that opens a new avenue of research and also for a potential treatment for patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis. And I'm looking forward to the next steps. Hopefully there will be a phase III study that this company will do.

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