Clinuvel posts follow-up data from vitiligo trial

Clinuvel (ASX:CUV) has published promising follow-up data from a phase II trial of Scenesse in patients with vitiligo.

Patients treated for vitiligo with Scenesse in combination with narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) therapy sustained their repigmentation at 11 months since commencement of treatment, the results show.

Repigmentation of vitiligous lesions was also higher at each measured time interval in subjects receiving combination therapy, compared to those receiving NB-UBV alone.

Vitiligo is a condition that causes patches of the skin to lose their pigmentation and become lighter. There is no known cure. NB-UVB is the current standard of care, but the response rate of the therapy alone is low and depigmentation tends to recur after treatment is concluded.

Trial investigator Dr Pearl Grimes, director of the Vitiligo & Pigmentation Institute of Southern California and clinical professor of the dermatology division of UCLA, said the results are promising.

“After more than 30 years of treating vitiligo, I’m excited that we may have a new drug, and one with a very encouraging risk‐benefit profile for our patients,” she said.

Clinuvel acting Chief Scientific Officer Dr Dennis Wright said the improved repigmentation notably occurred in darker-skinned patients, the subgroup for which vitiligo is most conspicuous and thus has the largest social impact. The next vitiligo trial will concentrate on these patients.

“Developing a treatment for these patients will be rewarding, since the loss of pigmentation is described by these patients as a loss of their identity,” he said.

Scenesse is a photoreceptive drug which is also going through the approvals process in the EU and the US for erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP), a rare skin disease characterised by painful sensitivity to light.

Clinuvel (ASX:CUV) shares were trading 5.52% lower at $1.71 as of around 2 pm on Monday.