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Background: Prurigo nodularis (PN) is an intensely pruritic disease characterized by itchy nodules on the trunk/extremities; it is often accompanied by skin pain and sleep disruption with negative impacts on the quality of life (QoL). The patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments, Worst Itch-Numeric Rating Scale (WI-NRS), Skin Pain-NRS, Sleep-NRS and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) have been psychometrically validated and the clinically meaningful within-patient improvement thresholds (responder definition) have been established through data pooled from the two Phase-3 trials (PRIME, NCT04183335 and PRIME2, NCT04202679) of dupilumab in adults with PN uncontrolled on topical therapies.
Objectives: To estimate the proportion of dupilumab-treated patients (vs. placebo) achieving clinically meaningful improvement in itch, skin pain, sleep and QoL, either alone or in combination, from the data pooled from PRIME and PRIME2 trials.
Methods: The patient-level data pooled from the two Phase-3 trials (N = 311) were used for this post hoc analysis. Thresholds of clinically meaningful within-patient improvement in PRO instrument scores from baseline at Week 24 used for defining responders were 4 (WI-NRS and Skin Pain-NRS), 2 (Sleep-NRS) and 9 points (DLQI). The proportion of dupilumab-treated patients, versus placebo, achieving the thresholds, and the time taken to achieve the thresholds were evaluated for the individual and combination of PROs.
Results: Responder rates were significantly higher with dupilumab, versus placebo at Week 24 for WI-NRS (58.8% vs. 19.0%, p < 0.0001), Skin Pain-NRS (49.7% vs. 20.9%, p < 0.0001), Sleep-NRS (42.5% vs. 23.4%, p < 0.0001) and DLQI (64.7% vs. 22.8%, p < 0.0001). Proportion of patients achieving simultaneous improvement in symptoms and QoL (24.8% vs. 6.3%, p < 0.0001) were significantly higher in dupilumab-treated patients versus placebo. The time needed for achieving clinically meaningful improvement in symptoms were significantly lower in dupilumab-treated patients, versus placebo.
Conclusions: Significantly greater proportion of dupilumab-treated patients with PN, versus placebo, demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements in PRO measures of symptoms and QoL.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jdv.20099 | DOI Listing |
JAMA Psychiatry
September 2025
Denovo Biopharma LLC, San Diego, California.
Importance: This study represents a first successful use of a genetic biomarker to select potential responders in a prospective study in psychiatry. Liafensine, a triple reuptake inhibitor, may become a new precision medicine for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), a major unmet medical need.
Objective: To determine whether ANK3-positive patients with TRD benefit from a 1-mg and/or 2-mg daily oral dose of liafensine, compared with placebo, in a clinical trial.
JAMA Netw Open
September 2025
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla.
Importance: Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors are highly effective medications for several immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs). However, safety concerns have led to regulatory restrictions.
Objective: To compare the risk of adverse events with JAK inhibitors vs tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists in patients with IMIDs in head-to-head comparative effectiveness studies.
Pharmacoeconomics
September 2025
Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University, Box 580, 751 23, Uppsala, Sweden.
Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are clinically beneficial but associated with high costs that represent a growing challenge for healthcare budgets and may affect affordability, especially in resource-limited settings. Moreover, the healthcare sector is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, and medication-related waste-such as that from vial-based therapies-has been identified as a contributing factor. Alternative dosing strategies could reduce the environmental and financial impact of ICI therapy while maintaining clinical safety and efficacy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpiritual interventions, including meditation, prayer, mindfulness, and compassionate care, have gained increasing attention for their potential to enhance both psychological resilience and overall health. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined eight eligible studies conducted across the USA, Europe, and China to assess the impact of such interventions on key outcomes, namely anxiety reduction, quality of life, chronic disease symptom management, and patient satisfaction. Seven studies contributed quantitative data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrugs Aging
September 2025
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, V1 06, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, Canada.
Background And Objectives: Older adults living with dementia are a heterogeneous group, which can make studying optimal medication management challenging. Unsupervised machine learning is a group of computing methods that rely on unlabeled data-that is, where the algorithm itself is discovering patterns without the need for researchers to label the data with a known outcome. These methods may help us to better understand complex prescribing patterns in this population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF