Dermira, Inc., a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on bringing innovative and differentiated products to dermatologists and their patients, announced the presentation of clinical data from its successful DRM01 phase 2a trial in acne patients  

A poster presentation is taking place at the 23rd World Congress of Dermatology, currently being held in Vancouver, June 8-13, 2015.

The primary endpoints of the phase 2a trial, the changes from baseline in inflammatory and non-inflammatory lesion counts and an improvement in the Investigator's Global Assessment score, were met with statistical significance. There were no reported serious treatment-related adverse events, and DRM01 was generally well tolerated.

"We are delighted to have the positive phase 2a results for our DRM01 acne programme presented at the World Congress of Dermatology," stated Tom Wiggans, chairman and chief executive officer of Dermira.

"Following the compelling results of this clinical study, we initiated a phase 2b dose-finding trial for DRM01 in April 2015 in which we plan to enroll approximately 400 patients. Based on current enrollment projections, we anticipate announcing topline data from this phase 2b study in the first half of 2016."

This phase 2a clinical trial was a randomized, multi-centre double-blind, vehicle-controlled study that enrolled 108 patients with moderate or severe acne. Inclusion criteria required a minimum of 20 inflammatory lesions and 20 non-inflammatory lesions and an IGA score of three or greater on a five-point scale that ranges from a score of zero, representing clear skin, to a score of four, representing severe disease. Patients were instructed to apply either DRM01 at a concentration of 7.5 per cent or vehicle to the face twice daily for 12 weeks. A total of 53 subjects were randomized to receive DRM01, and the other 55 were randomized to receive vehicle only. The primary efficacy endpoints used in this trial consisted of absolute changes from baseline to week 12 in the numbers of inflammatory and non-inflammatory lesions and the proportion of patients with at least a two-grade improvement from baseline to week 12 in IGA score.

DRM01 demonstrated statistically significant improvements from baseline to week 12 relative to vehicle in all primary efficacy endpoints. The number of inflammatory lesions in patients treated with DRM01 was reduced by an average of 19.3 compared to 13.3 in patients who received the vehicle only (p=0.0003), or an average percentage reduction of 63.9 per cent and 45.9 per cent, respectively (p=0.0006).

The number of non-inflammatory lesions in patients treated with DRM01 was reduced by an average of 19.9 compared to 11.2 in patients who received the vehicle only (p=0.0032), or an average percentage reduction of 48.1 per cent and 28.8 per cent, respectively (p=0.0025). At the end of the 12-week treatment period, 24.5 per cent of patients (13/53) who received DRM01 achieved a successful improvement in the IGA score (minimum two-grade improvement), in comparison with 7.3 per cent of patients (4/55) who received the vehicle only (p=0.0070).

DRM01 was well-tolerated with adverse events mild or moderate in severity. The most frequently reported adverse event was nasopharyngitis, which was reported in 13 (24.5 per cent) of the patients treated with DRM01 and in 7 (12.7 per cent) of the patients who received vehicle and which was considered unrelated to treatment. Application-site conditions, which are frequently observed in most clinical trials of topical products, also were observed. No treatment-related serious adverse events were reported.

DRM01 is a novel, topical, small-molecule sebum inhibitor in development for the treatment of acne. Sebum is an oily substance made up of lipids produced by glands in the skin called sebaceous glands, and excessive sebum production is an important aspect of acne that is not addressed by available topical therapies. DRM01 is designed to exert its effect by inhibiting acetyl coenzyme-A carboxylase, an enzyme that plays an important role in the synthesis of fatty acids, a type of lipid that represents an essential component of the majority of sebum lipids.