Eli Lilly and Co. and Incyte Corp.'s medicine Olumiant helped reduce the symptoms of certain patients with eczema in a late-stage study.
Indianapolis-based Lilly and Wilmington, Del.-based Incyte evaluated 2-milligram and 4-milligram doses of Olumiant, or baricitinib, against placebo in a phase 3 trial called Breeze-AD7, in patients with moderate to severe eczema. Also known as atopic dermatitis, this condition makes the skin red and itchy, with rashes flaring periodically.
Adding Olumiant to standard-of-care topical corticosteroids significantly improved disease severity. After 16 weeks of treatment, 26% of patients on the 2-milligram dose and 34% on the 4-milligram dose achieved clear or almost clear skin, reflecting an improvement in the severity of the disease.
In comparison, only 16% of patients on placebo achieved clear or almost clear skin.
The Breeze-AD7 trial is the third of five studies planned under the Breeze-AD program. Lilly expects to complete the program in 2019.
Olumiant, which works by inhibiting an enzyme called Janus kinase, met the main goals of phase 3 studies Breeze-AD1 and Breeze-AD2 in February.
The drug has been approved to treat adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis who have had an inadequate response to one or more tumor necrosis factor inhibitor therapies that typically help stop inflammation.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted a fast-track designation to Olumiant for treating lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that causes inflammation.
