Dupilumab in real life: much higher frequency of conjunctivitis and eosinophilia reported

Dupilumab (Dupixent (R)) is the first biologic available to treat atopic dermatitis (AD). Its effectiveness and safety were demonstrated in clinical trials.

This real-life French multicenter retrospective cohort study included 241 patients treated during March 2017-April 2018.

The median follow-up time was 4 months (still a very short time, considering that most patients are expected to be on the therapy for longer than 6 months).

Conjunctivitis

Conjunctivitis was reported in 40% patients vs 8-13% in trials, a 4-fold increase. Conjunctivitis was treated with artificial tears and cyclosporine eye drops.

Eosinophilia

The proportion with eosinophilia (greater than 500 cells/mm3) during follow-up was higher than that at baseline. The previous clinical trials showed transient eosinophilia in less than 2% of patients, the incidence was 5-fold higher in this trial (9.5%).

27 of 241 patients stopped dupilumab because of adverse events (AEs).

This real-life study demonstrated a similar dupilumab effectiveness as that seen in clinical trials, but it also revealed a much higher frequency of conjunctivitis and eosinophilia.



Atopic dermatitis maintenance (click to enlarge the image).

References:

Effectiveness and safety of dupilumab for the treatment of atopic dermatitis in a real-life French multicenter adult cohort. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2019 Jul;81(1):143-151. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2019.02.053. Epub 2019 Feb 27.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30825533

Dupilumab in the Real World: Beware Adverse Effects. Medscape.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/916710