Special Report

Think Pink

Skincare companies give back for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

About one in eight women in the US will develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime, according to The American Cancer Society. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Since its inception in 1985, breast cancer awareness month has helped move the needle on research and early detection. There has been a decline in breast cancer deaths as a result, but more work is needed to find a cure. Each October, growing numbers of skin care brands go pink to raise awareness and money to bring us closer to a cure.

Estée Lauder

Fifteen of The Estée Lauder Companies’ beauty brands will donate to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) this October. Aveda will donate $4.00 of the purchase price of a Limited-EditionAveda Hand Relief Moisturizing Crème with Uplifting Beautifying Aroma to support cruelty-free research through the BCRF, with a maximum donation of $323,000. Clinique will donate $10.00 from the purchase price of a special, limited-edition bottle of its Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+ replete with a Clinique key ring that includes a Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Ribbon to the BCRF. For each purchase of a limited-edition Darphin Intral Redness Relief Soothing Serum, specially packaged with the pink ribbon, the company will donate $10.00 from the purchase price to the BCRF, with a maximum donation of $7,000. The BCA edition of Estee Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex II comes with a Pink Ribbon Pin, and the company will donate 20 percent of the suggested retail price to the BCRF.

Frownies

Frownies is offering 50 percent off of vintage pink Frownies this October, and will donate 10 percent of the profits to the Independent Cancer Research Foundation, a non-profit organization that researches natural cancer treatments.

Dermaflash

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Dermaflash, an at-home device that removes dead skin cells and facial hair, will donate 20 percent of proceeds from sales of a special, limited-edition pink Dermaflash device to the Lynn Sage Cancer Research Foundation (LSCRF) in Chicago. The LSCRF supports the understanding, research and treatment of breast cancer in partnership with Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

Galderma

Galderma will donate $25 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for every new patient who signs up for the ASPIRE Galderma Rewards Program through October, up to $50,000. The company also hosts Pink Day at their headquarters in Fort Worth, TX to support breast cancer awareness and offers free mammograms to employees, including free transportation.

New Global Psoriasis Atlas to Accrue Worldwide PsO Data

Three global health organizations are joining forces to launch the Global Psoriasis Atlas (GPA), the first-ever worldwide database on psoriasis. The GPA project comes in response to the 2016 World Health Organization (WHO) Global Report on psoriasis, which highlighted how the current lack of psoriasis data contributes to the suffering caused by the disease. The GPA partnership comprises the International Federation of Psoriasis Associations (IFPA), the International League of Dermatological Societies (ILDS) and the International Psoriasis Council (IPC).

By detailing the disease prevalence and incidence worldwide, the GPA will enable global comparisons between countries and across time. The GPA will evolve to provide data on the burden of psoriasis, including societal costs, comorbid diseases and patients’ access to treatment.

Phase 1 of the GPA project will comprehensively review the available psoriasis literature and data to compile a global epidemiological overview. Phase 2 of will work out a rigorous methodology and set criteria for future psoriasis epidemiological work. Together, these phases will establish the GPA as the definitive real-time record of psoriasis epidemiology worldwide.

According to WHO, published studies on psoriasis prevalence vary markedly in their estimate, citing figures as low as 0.09 percent or as high as 11.4 percent. Current psoriasis data are derived from 20 countries. This limited sample obscures the situation in low and middle-income settings. Previous psoriasis studies also often lacked a standardized case-definition or methodology. As a result, current knowledge on psoriasis’ global severity and spread remains limited.

Modernizing Medicine Releases modmed 5.0

Specialty-specific health information technology company Modernizing Medicine, Inc. has released the latest edition of its software, modmed 5.0, offering a fully-integrated, cloud-based approach to mobile EHR and practice management. “The biggest release ever,” from Modernizing Medicine, the latest edition is focused on “making the end-user’s life better,” says Jordan Miller, MD Senior Medical Director of Dermatology at Modernizing Medicine, and one of the system’s first clients.

“The most frequent request we received from clients was ‘When are you going to have a fully integrated front to back solution?’,” Dr. Miller notes. Modmed 5.0 does just that, he says. “It’s fully integrated…We can translate patient interaction screens to the management end.”

The update includes products and services to help transform the clinical, financial and operational aspects of specialty practices, plus product enhancements to EMA, the company’s flagship electronic health record (EHR) system developed by practicing physicians, Modernizing Medicine says.

New features added to the cloud-based, mobile EHR system EMA and Revenue Cycle Management services are:

• Practice Management
• modmed Telehealth™
• Pathology
• Clinical lab integrations with Quest and Labcorp
• For Meaningful Use 2016, Objective 10: Specialized Registries
• Refreshed user experience and brand across the entire suite.

Dr. Jordan says he is “very excited about modmed Telehealth,” as he believes that teledermatology will grow in coming years.

New Survey: AD Is More Than Skin Deep

American adults with atopic dermatitis (AD) report issues with sleep, ability to work, and feelings of depression and anxiety, a new survey shows. The findings are significant for clinicians, such as New York dermatologist Doris Day, MD, who notes that some of the results of the large survey were unexpected. For example, Dr. Day says she was struck by “how miserable people are with their eczema and really are looking for better treatments.”

The survey, part of the national awareness campaign Understand AD, was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Sanofi Genzyme and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Out of the 505 Americans with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis who responded to the survey:

• 53 percent reported that their disease has negatively impacted their daily lives
• 82 percent have made lifestyle modifications, such as avoiding social engagements, being in pictures, and participating in sports/exercise
• 55 percent reported that their confidence was negatively impacted due to their disease
• 49 percent say their sleep has been negatively impacted by the disease, moderately or significantly
• 23 percent of people feel depressed and 28 percent feel anxious due to their AD
• 20 percent report that their AD has impacted their ability to maintain employment and 16 percent have made career choices that limit face-to-face interactions with others because of the disease

Given that eczema is often considered a dermatitis of childhood, Dr. Day says physicians may not consider the full impact of the disease on adults. “I don’t think I realized how significant it was for so many to have chronic eczema as an adult…and also how they adapt their life because of it,” she says.

Nearly 70 percent of respondents often or sometimes experience flares while on treatment. In fact, people reported using a range of treatments to manage their disease including prescription therapies, over-the-counter medications, alternative medicine like acupuncture as well as vitamins and herbal supplements.

Eau Thermale Avène Launches #AveneHope for Eczema Awareness Month

Eau Thermale Avène launced their #AveneHope program in recognition of Eczema Awareness Month this October. As part of the program, Avène is sharing the story of Aidan Moffett, an 11-year-old boy from McKinney, TX, who has been coping with atopic dermatitis almost since birth. Aidan was unable to attend school, let alone play with his friends. In resistant cases like Aidan’s, the search for managing symptoms can lead to a wide regimen of therapies, including topical steroids and high-risk immune suppressants—yet ultimately to little or no relief. Such treatments left Aidan frail until he discovered Avène. Avène water is drawn from the Avène Hydrotherapy Center in the Orb River of the South of France. Today Aidan’s worst days are better than his best three years ago. (For more on Aidan’s story, visit practicaldermatology.com/2016/02/revisiting-hydrotherapy)

The #AveneHope program gives visitors to the site the opportunity to send another patient to the Avène Hydrotherapy Center by signing a pledge to share Aidan’s story. The goal is to reach 30,000 signatures, with each pledge representing a 1,000 people with Eczema in the US. Sign the pledge to share Aidan’s story today at www.aveneusa.com/hope and be sure to share the link using #AveneHope and @aveneusa to spread hope.

Biologica Technologies Introduces New Filler Allofill

A newly launched off-the-shelf fat-derived filler may provide the long-lasting results associated with fat grafting plus the convenience of other ready-to-use injectables. Allofill is Biologica Technologies’ first foray into aesthetics. The company has products in the orthopedic space.

Launched in late September, Allofill is a ready-to-use, allograft-derived filler retains the native extracellular matrix (ECM) components of allograft-derived adipose tissue and over time will be remodeled into a patient’s own soft tissue.

Using their tissue processing methods, Biologica Technologies has the ability to harvest various growth factors found within allogeneic adipose tissue and bind them to a collagen scaffold.

The company is now conducting studies looking at how the new filler performs in the mid-face and temple regions. The cost of the new filler will be comparable to some hyaluronic acid-based injectables on the market.

Additional products to follow include an acellular dermal matrix (ADM) and cartilage matrix.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Reports Positive Phase 3 Data for Yervoy and Opdivo

Yervoy 10 mg/kg demonstrated superiority versus placebo on all survival endpoints in the Phase 3 trial CA184-029 (EORTC 18071) evaluating stage III melanoma patients who are at high risk of recurrence following complete surgical resection, according to Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. In the study, Yervoy compared with placebo significantly improved overall survival (OS), a secondary endpoint, with five-year OS rates at 65.4 percent in the Yervoy group and 54.4 percent in the placebo group. Distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), a secondary endpoint, was also significantly improved versus placebo and had five-year DMFS rates of 48.3 percent and 38.9 percent in the Yervoy and placebo groups, respectively. In this updated five-year analysis, the recurrence-free survival (primary endpoint) benefit observed previously with Yervoy was maintained. The safety profile remained consistent with the initial analysis, with no new deaths or safety signals. The most common grade 3/4 immune-related adverse events in the Yervoy group were gastrointestinal (16.1 percent), hepatic (10.8 percent), and endocrine (7.9 percent).

The company also reported new patient-reported quality-of-life data from an exploratory endpoint in the pivotal Phase 3 CheckMate -141 trial evaluating Opdivo in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck after platinum therapy compared to investigator’s choice of therapy (methotrexate, docetaxel or cetuximab). Outcome assessments showed Opdivo stabilized patients’ symptoms and functioning, including physical, role, and social functioning across three separate instruments. Both PD-L1 expressors and non-expressors treated with investigator’s choice of therapy experienced statistically significant worsening of patient-reported outcomes from baseline to week 15 versus Opdivo. In addition, Opdivo more than doubled the time to deterioration for most functional domains measured and significantly delayed the time to worsening symptoms of fatigue, dyspnea, and insomnia, compared to investigator’s choice of therapy. 

These data were featured during the 2016 European Society for Medical Oncology Congress Press Program and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Regeneron and Sanofi’s AD Drug Dupilumab Performs Well in Phase 3 Studies

Dupilumab improves the signs and symptoms of atopic dermatitis including pruritus, anxiety/depression symptoms, and quality of life, according to two Phase 3 clinical trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine in conjunction with a presentation at the EADV in Vienna, Austria.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Sanofi announced late last month that FDA will conduct a priority review of the treatment for adults.

In the studies, dupilumab alleviated the skin lesions and intense itching that were previously untreatable with standard medications and often impacted large areas of a trial participant’s body and reduced the sleep deprivation, depression, and anxiety participants suffered because of the severity of symptoms.

The 16-week, randomized Phase III trials tested participants’ responses in three ways and in two groups with 671 participants in the first group and 708 participants in the second. Participants received either: a weekly dose of dupilumab; a dose every other week or placebo injections. All participants enrolled in the trial were aged 18 years or older, had moderate to severe forms of disease that didn’t respond to existing treatments or who were unable to use existing drugs.

In the first study, called SOLO 1, 38 percent of participants, who received the drug every other week saw a clearing or near clearing of skin lesions as did 37 percent who received it weekly. Only 10 percent of participants who only received the placebo also experienced this response. Results were similar in the second group, SOLO 2, with 36 percent of participants who received the treatment every other week, as well as those receiving it weekly, experiencing a complete clearing or near-full response. In the second study, 8 percent of those who received a placebo similarly improved.

In addition, participants experienced significant reduction in itching in the dupilumab-treated groups when compared to placebo. Dupilumab-treated participants also experienced significant reductions in measures of anxiety and depression, two common conditions that can accompany the disease.

Larger trials of longer duration are needed to assess the effectiveness and safety of long-term treatment with dupilumab, and these studies are underway, the study authors note. n