Santalis Pharmaceuticals Starts Phase 2 Study of New Sandalwood Oil-based AD Therapy

Santalis Pharmaceuticals has enrolled the first patient in a Phase 2 Study of 5% East Indian Sandalwood Oil (EISO) cream for the treatment of atopic dermatitis (AD).

Up to 60 patients aged 3 months to 65 with a clinically stable diagnosis of AD who have a total body surface area involvement of 2-15% will be enrolled to determine preliminary efficacy after 28 days of twice daily treatment. This study follows a prior open-label study, which demonstrated an OTC formulation of EISO to be safe, well-tolerated, and efficacious for patients aged between 3 months and 12 years who have mild, moderate or severe AD affecting a large percentage of their body surface area.

The pharmaceutical-grade EISO from TFS (Santalis’ parent company) inhibits inflammatory and proliferative pathways including the down-regulation of PDE4 activity and direct inhibition of several isoforms of the enzyme. In addition, EISO is effective in controlling many pathogens associated with secondary infections of AD, such as Staphlococcus aureus. EISO is also being investigated for use in psoriasis.