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The atopic dermatitis market

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery volume 17, pages 237–238 (2018)Cite this article

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Current treatment

Topical agents are the backbone of AD therapy and are often used in conjunction with systemic therapy or phototherapy in patients with severe disease. Emolients are used first, followed by topical corticosteroids if emolients are ineffective. Chronic treatment with topical steroids bears the risk of skin atrophy and systemic absorption; topical calcineurin inhibitors (TCIs, such as tacrolimus (Protopic; LEO Pharma) and pimecrolimus (Elidel; Valeant Pharmaceuticals)) are second-line topical treatment options that reduce inflammation without causing skin atrophy. Off-label systemic therapies, such as cyclosporine (only licensed in the European Union), azathioprine, methotrexate, mycophenolate mofetil and interferon-γ have shown efficacy in patients with severe AD. Although oral steroids (such as prednisone) are approved for AD, long-term treatment is generally avoided because of the risk of adverse effects. Data regarding the effectiveness and long-term safety of systemic therapies in AD are insufficient and standardized guidelines are lacking, therefore treatment approaches differ between countries.

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Figure 1: Global sales of atopic dermatitis drug classes.

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  1. Eleni Pantazi, Gianluca Valenza, Manuela Hess and Bashar Hamad are at QuintilesIMS, One IMS Drive, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania 19462, USA.,

    Eleni Pantazi, Gianluca Valenza, Manuela Hess & Bashar Hamad

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  1. Eleni Pantazi
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  2. Gianluca Valenza
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  3. Manuela Hess
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  4. Bashar Hamad
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Correspondence to Bashar Hamad.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Pantazi, E., Valenza, G., Hess, M. et al. The atopic dermatitis market. Nat Rev Drug Discov 17, 237–238 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd.2017.192

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