Dermatology drug search trends, with a focus on atopic dermatitis & plaque psoriasis treatments
In dermatology, few conditions carry as much significance and impact as atopic dermatitis and plaque psoriasis. These two chronic skin disorders share the commonality of affecting millions of individuals worldwide, profoundly influencing their quality of life and necessitating ongoing management and treatment.
Overall, the treatment landscape for atopic dermatitis and plaque psoriasis is evolving quickly, with advancements in biologic therapies, Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors, personalized medicine, and topical treatments. Pharmaceutical companies face increasing competition as they strive to develop innovative therapies that address the unmet needs of patients with these chronic skin disorders.
Atopic dermatitis drugs approved in the EU
Atopic dermatitis has seen a recent wave of innovation, with new targeted therapies launching after 2017. This has greatly boosted growth, with medications like Dupixent, Olumiant, Rinvoq, Adtralza and Cibinqo leading the way. Let’s take a look at drugs approved in the European Union and check in which markets the health insurer reimburses the cost.1
Atopic dermatitis drug search
Now let’s look at some numbers related to atopic dermatitis drug search in our Mediately App. First, we checked how dermatologists search for these drugs and what the trends are.
Graph 1: Quarterly atopic dermatitis drug search among dermatologists in 12 European countries, where Mediately App is available.
According to our data, Dupixent seems to be the most often searched drug in all countries among atopic dermatitis drugs. Dupixent is then followed by 3 JAKs on the market: Olumiant, Rinvoq and Cibinqo. How fast can Cibinqo, as the last JAK among these that was EMA approved at the end of 2021, catch the competition?
SmPC chapters views
Now we know the search trends among the competitors. Let’s take a look at what drug info dermatologists check in the Mediately App. They are most interested in the dosing and indications, reflecting their focus on understanding the practical application and recommended uses of the medications.
Graph 2: SmPC chapters within atopic dermatitis drug visited between January and April 2024 among dermatologists in 12 European countries, where Mediately App is available.
Plaque psoriasis drugs approved in the EU
Another important dermatology field is plaque psoriasis treatments, so we looked into approved drugs in the European Union and the health insurance reimbursement status across our markets for these therapies as well .1
Plaque psoriasis drug search
When we focus on plaque psoriasis drug search numbers by dermatologists, we can see that they are pretty constant, except for Bimzelx. Drug views for Bimzelx have started increasing in Q4 2022, after reimbursement in Czech Republic, followed by reimbursement in Slovenia. Can Bimzelx drug views grow even bigger and overtake the leading and established drugs in psoriasis? And can we expect the same for Sotyktu, when it gets reimbursed?
Graph 3: Quarterly plaque psoriasis drug search among dermatologists in 12 European countries, where Mediately App is available.
Plaque psoriasis drug search in Italy
In Italy, the market boasts the largest variety of plaque psoriasis medications covered by health insurance. Despite being approved in 2021, Bimzelx has garnered significant attention, ranking second in views.
Graph 4: Plaque psoriasis drug search in Italy in the last 12 months, done by drug prescribers.
SmPC chapters views
If we focus on SmPC chapters views, we can see that dermatologists are most interested in dosing info, in order to understand how much medication to prescribe to a patient.
Graph 5: SmPC chapters within plaque psoriasis drug visited between January and April 2024 among dermatologists in 12 European countries, where Mediately App is available.
How Mediately helps dermatologists treating atopic dermatitis and plaque psoriasis
The Mediately app provides dermatologists with all the key information about the drugs mentioned above, and also provides them with educational tools to learn to recognize and treat these diseases more effectively. Currently, doctors have access to the following tools:- SCORAD: The classical composite score that was developed by the European Task Force of Atopic Dermatitis (ETFAD).
- EASI: A signs-only score assessing visible lesions only, but not the subjective symptoms. It has been externally validated and has adequate validity, responsiveness, internal consistency, and intraobserver reliability.
- PASI: The most widely used tool for the measurement of severity of psoriasis. PASI combines the assessment of affected areas and the severity of lesions into a single score.
- DLQI: A ten-question questionnaire used to measure the impact of skin disease on the quality of life of an affected person.
- NAPSI: Used to evaluate the severity of nail bed psoriasis and nail matrix psoriasis by area of involvement in the nail unit.
- PSSI: The result of a modified area score with the severity score, similar to the PASI score for general psoriasis.
- ESIF: ESIF scale for characterizing palmoplantar disease is assessed by characterizing the severity of each attribute on a 4-point scale for both palms and both soles.
Sources:
- EMA, European Medicines Agency & local drug sources.