At the start of her session, “What's New in the treatment of Rosacea,” Hilary Baldwin, MD, FAAD, highlighted a new topical formulation down the pipeline and the repurposing of current treatments utilized for acne in consideration for rosacea.

“I thought, I'm going to talk about all the stuff that's new in rosacea in the past year, and lo’ and behold, there's not a whole heck of a lot that's new in rosacea in 2021,” Dr Baldwin began at her lecture at the AAD annual meeting. She continued, “So, what I did find in 2021 was that we have the promise of a lot of new things coming out in 2022-23.”

She addressed 2 major points of her lecture, including:

• new topical formulation of microencapsulated benzoyl peroxide 5%; and
• repurposing some “old friends” utilized for acne and now in consideration for rosacea

The topical formulation of microencapsulated benzoyl peroxide 5% will be coming shortly and showcased promising efficacy. This product is benzoyl peroxide coated with a surfactant in which micro channels in the silica release the peroxide slowly over time. In regard to the efficacy, Dr Baldwin noted recent trials that showed the mean inflammatory lesion count was 68% which is higher than any product currently seen in the treatment of rosacea. The IGA success was also higher than any treatment before at 47%. As for tolerability, Dr Baldwin shared it was well below mild with the exception of baseline.

The “old friends” Dr Baldwin referred to that could be repurposed from acne treatment for rosacea included:

• sarecycline; and
• low dose extended-release minocycline (DFD29)

Referencing a small pilot study, Dr Baldwin shared that the usual dose of sarecycline at 1.5mg per day showed an overall improvement in IGA with a reduction of inflammatory lesions in addition to a significant reduction in burn erythema and pruritus which presented no serious adverse events when treating moderate to severe rosacea.

When introducing low dose extended-release minocycline (DFD29), Dr Baldwin acknowledged that physicians were already utilizing extended release of minocycline, but that recent clinical trials showed that, when treated with 40 mg low-dose extended-release minocycline, patients presented an improved reduction of inflammatory lesions and that there was a successful improvement in IGA at 16 weeks.

Reference
Baldwin H. What's new in the treatment of rosacea. Presented at: AAD Annual Meeting; March 25-28, 2022; Boston, MA.