User login
.
The eye-opening results of the 406-patient, 12-country European patient survey indicate “high levels of disbelief in currently available treatment options and an overall dissatisfaction with treatment,” Manuel P. Pereira, MD, PhD, said in presenting the findings at the annual congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.
Only 5.3% of patients pronounced themselves “very satisfied” with their treatment. Another 28% were “rather satisfied.”
“Remarkably, almost 10% of patients were not being treated for prurigo despite having active disease,” said Dr. Pereira, a dermatologist at the Center for Chronic Pruritus at University Hospital Münster (Germany).
When survey participants were asked to identify their most important unmet treatment needs, 79.5% named improvement of itch, 57.2% sought improvement in skin lesions, and 30.5% wanted better sleep.
The most widely used treatments were emollients, prescribed in 84.5% of patients; topical steroids, in 55.7%; antihistamines, 55.2%; and phototherapy, 42.1%. Far fewer patients were on more potent medications: Cyclosporine, systemic corticosteroids, or other immunosuppressants were prescribed for 21.9% of patients; gabapentin and related compounds in 17%; and topical immunomodulators in 8.6%. Twenty-three percent of patients were on antidepressants.
None of the available treatment options, all of which are off label, received high marks from patients. For example, only 1 in 10 patients on antihistamines during the last 6 months rated the drugs as effective. Topical immunomodulators were deemed effective by 1.1% of patients with active prurigo nodularis; gabapentinoids by 3.1%; phototherapy by 9.9%; and antidepressants were rated as effective for the chronic skin disease by only 2.3% of patients. The top-rated therapies were topical steroids, deemed effective by 12.8% of patients; systemic immunosuppressants, favored by 12.2%; and emollients, deemed effective by 10.5% of patients, even though more than 80% of survey participants were using them.
Dr. Pereira said the survey results highlight a pressing need for guidelines aimed at improving clinical care for patients with chronic prurigo nodularis. The first-ever such guidelines on the diagnosis and management of this debilitating disease, developed by Dr. Pereira and other members of the International Forum for the Study of Itch (IFSI), were recently published in the journal Itch. The new guidelines advocate a multimodal treatment approach incorporating a combination of topical and systemic therapies.
At present, there is no approved treatment for prurigo nodularis. Given the unmet need, however, the pace of research has quickened. Innovative potential treatments in the developmental pipeline include Janus kinase inhibitors, topical phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors, systemic opioid receptor modulators, and neurokinin-1 receptor antagonists.
The patient survey was funded by the EADV and carried out by the EADV’s Pruritus Task Force as part of the European Prurigo Project. Dr. Pereira reported receiving research funding from the EADV and the German Research Foundation. He is a paid speaker for AbbVie, Galderma, Menlo Therapeutics (now VYNE Therapeutics), Novartis, and Trevi.
.
The eye-opening results of the 406-patient, 12-country European patient survey indicate “high levels of disbelief in currently available treatment options and an overall dissatisfaction with treatment,” Manuel P. Pereira, MD, PhD, said in presenting the findings at the annual congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.
Only 5.3% of patients pronounced themselves “very satisfied” with their treatment. Another 28% were “rather satisfied.”
“Remarkably, almost 10% of patients were not being treated for prurigo despite having active disease,” said Dr. Pereira, a dermatologist at the Center for Chronic Pruritus at University Hospital Münster (Germany).
When survey participants were asked to identify their most important unmet treatment needs, 79.5% named improvement of itch, 57.2% sought improvement in skin lesions, and 30.5% wanted better sleep.
The most widely used treatments were emollients, prescribed in 84.5% of patients; topical steroids, in 55.7%; antihistamines, 55.2%; and phototherapy, 42.1%. Far fewer patients were on more potent medications: Cyclosporine, systemic corticosteroids, or other immunosuppressants were prescribed for 21.9% of patients; gabapentin and related compounds in 17%; and topical immunomodulators in 8.6%. Twenty-three percent of patients were on antidepressants.
None of the available treatment options, all of which are off label, received high marks from patients. For example, only 1 in 10 patients on antihistamines during the last 6 months rated the drugs as effective. Topical immunomodulators were deemed effective by 1.1% of patients with active prurigo nodularis; gabapentinoids by 3.1%; phototherapy by 9.9%; and antidepressants were rated as effective for the chronic skin disease by only 2.3% of patients. The top-rated therapies were topical steroids, deemed effective by 12.8% of patients; systemic immunosuppressants, favored by 12.2%; and emollients, deemed effective by 10.5% of patients, even though more than 80% of survey participants were using them.
Dr. Pereira said the survey results highlight a pressing need for guidelines aimed at improving clinical care for patients with chronic prurigo nodularis. The first-ever such guidelines on the diagnosis and management of this debilitating disease, developed by Dr. Pereira and other members of the International Forum for the Study of Itch (IFSI), were recently published in the journal Itch. The new guidelines advocate a multimodal treatment approach incorporating a combination of topical and systemic therapies.
At present, there is no approved treatment for prurigo nodularis. Given the unmet need, however, the pace of research has quickened. Innovative potential treatments in the developmental pipeline include Janus kinase inhibitors, topical phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors, systemic opioid receptor modulators, and neurokinin-1 receptor antagonists.
The patient survey was funded by the EADV and carried out by the EADV’s Pruritus Task Force as part of the European Prurigo Project. Dr. Pereira reported receiving research funding from the EADV and the German Research Foundation. He is a paid speaker for AbbVie, Galderma, Menlo Therapeutics (now VYNE Therapeutics), Novartis, and Trevi.
.
The eye-opening results of the 406-patient, 12-country European patient survey indicate “high levels of disbelief in currently available treatment options and an overall dissatisfaction with treatment,” Manuel P. Pereira, MD, PhD, said in presenting the findings at the annual congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.
Only 5.3% of patients pronounced themselves “very satisfied” with their treatment. Another 28% were “rather satisfied.”
“Remarkably, almost 10% of patients were not being treated for prurigo despite having active disease,” said Dr. Pereira, a dermatologist at the Center for Chronic Pruritus at University Hospital Münster (Germany).
When survey participants were asked to identify their most important unmet treatment needs, 79.5% named improvement of itch, 57.2% sought improvement in skin lesions, and 30.5% wanted better sleep.
The most widely used treatments were emollients, prescribed in 84.5% of patients; topical steroids, in 55.7%; antihistamines, 55.2%; and phototherapy, 42.1%. Far fewer patients were on more potent medications: Cyclosporine, systemic corticosteroids, or other immunosuppressants were prescribed for 21.9% of patients; gabapentin and related compounds in 17%; and topical immunomodulators in 8.6%. Twenty-three percent of patients were on antidepressants.
None of the available treatment options, all of which are off label, received high marks from patients. For example, only 1 in 10 patients on antihistamines during the last 6 months rated the drugs as effective. Topical immunomodulators were deemed effective by 1.1% of patients with active prurigo nodularis; gabapentinoids by 3.1%; phototherapy by 9.9%; and antidepressants were rated as effective for the chronic skin disease by only 2.3% of patients. The top-rated therapies were topical steroids, deemed effective by 12.8% of patients; systemic immunosuppressants, favored by 12.2%; and emollients, deemed effective by 10.5% of patients, even though more than 80% of survey participants were using them.
Dr. Pereira said the survey results highlight a pressing need for guidelines aimed at improving clinical care for patients with chronic prurigo nodularis. The first-ever such guidelines on the diagnosis and management of this debilitating disease, developed by Dr. Pereira and other members of the International Forum for the Study of Itch (IFSI), were recently published in the journal Itch. The new guidelines advocate a multimodal treatment approach incorporating a combination of topical and systemic therapies.
At present, there is no approved treatment for prurigo nodularis. Given the unmet need, however, the pace of research has quickened. Innovative potential treatments in the developmental pipeline include Janus kinase inhibitors, topical phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors, systemic opioid receptor modulators, and neurokinin-1 receptor antagonists.
The patient survey was funded by the EADV and carried out by the EADV’s Pruritus Task Force as part of the European Prurigo Project. Dr. Pereira reported receiving research funding from the EADV and the German Research Foundation. He is a paid speaker for AbbVie, Galderma, Menlo Therapeutics (now VYNE Therapeutics), Novartis, and Trevi.
FROM THE EADV CONGRESS