Advances in Pediatric Eczema Highlight 2022

In a field laden with biologic research breakthroughs and emerging, practice-altering systemic therapies, one of dermatology’s most dominant headlines this last year was not regarding with what products we may use to treat eczema, but in how early may we begin to do so.

Earlier this year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved dupilumab (Dupixent), for the treatment of atopic dermatitis in children as young as 6 months to 5 years old. The latest indication for the Sanofi-Regeneron interleukin 4 and 13 (IL-4; IL-13) inhibitor not only completes the drug’s patient-age spectrum of availability; it marks the first time that infants and toddlers could be eligible to treat early-onset eczema with any biologic.

Of course, novel indications require clear roadmaps to care—and there’s many other evolving factors that play into treating pediatric eczema.

In this year-end episode of DocTalk, we return to a prior conversation with researcher and dermatologist Lawrence Eichenfield, MD, chief of pediatric and adolescent dermatology at the University of California, San Diego.

Eichenfield spoke with HCPLive on a number of pediatric atopic dermatitis topics from 2022, including the duplimuab approval, the state of modern care strategies, best screening practices, biomarker research, and infant-stage preventive practices.