Dupilumab Shows Long-Term Survival Rates in Treating Moderate-to-Severe Atopic Dermatitis

Key Takeaways

• Dupilumab demonstrates superior drug survival rates (80–90% at 1–3 years) vs. systemic immunosuppressants like cyclosporine and methotrexate.
• Dupilumab sustained efficacy and maintained low discontinuation rates due to adverse events.
• These findings support dupilumab’s role as a preferred long-term treatment for moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis.

A recent literature review of published studies suggested that dupilumab maintained survival rates of 80–90% at 1, 2, and 3 years, significantly exceeding the 20-41% rates observed for cyclosporine and methotrexate during comparable periods.

"The aim of this literature review is to describe the data available worldwide on dupilumab treatment performance by reviewing studies on drug survival, retention, or persistence, in order to provide a measure of the efficacy and safety of dupilumab when used to treat patients in daily practice, and to gauge the acceptance of the drug by adults and adolescents with moderate-to-severe AD," the authors wrote. The analysis was conducted via a PubMed search in March 2023 and screening for relevant publications, and included 65 studies in the final sample. 

According to the analysis, including globally, real-world studies with dupilumab regularly reported high drug survival rates (consistently at 80–90%) at 1-, 2-, and 3-year time-points, and were associated with low rates of treatment discontinuation due to lack of efficacy or adverse events. The authors reported that the findings were higher than 1- and 2-year drug survival rates of systemic immunosuppressants (including cyclosporine [37% and 20%, respectively] and methotrexate [41% and 33%, respectively]).

"These results suggest that dupilumab is associated with higher rates of drug survival compared with other traditional systemic agents for the treatment of patients with moderate-to-severe AD," the researchers wrote in the study. "Data on dupilumab drug survival, retention, and persistence represent an important proxy of its elevated and sustained efficacy and acceptable long-term safety in treating adults and adolescents with moderate-to-severe AD."

Source: Rossi M, et al. Adv Ther. Doi:10.1007/s12325-024-03052-z