Dupilumab Improves Growth, Skin, & Caregiver Burden Across Pediatric AD Spectrum

A trio of analyses from LIBERTY AD PEDS, LIBERTY AD PRESCHOOL, and the long-term PED-OLE extension study show dupilumab (Dupixent) improves growth attainment in school-age children, provides rapid caregiver-reported symptom relief in infants and toddlers, and sustains regional skin improvements across body regions for up to 3 years in children with atopic dermatitis (AD).^1,2,3

Presented at the Revolutionizing Atopic Dermatitis (RAD) 2026 Conference, the analyses span the youngest patients in dupilumab's development program, from infants as young as 6 months through children aged 11 years, and document benefits ranging from improved height percentile gain to reduced caregiver burden during the first 2 weeks of treatment.

"Dupilumab treatment for up to 3 years demonstrated sustained efficacy across all anatomic regions in children aged 6 months to 11 years with moderate-to-severe AD, with safety consistent with the known safety profile of dupilumab," the PED-OLE investigators concluded.

Growth Improvement in Children 6-11 Years and Caregiver Impressions in Under-5s

In the LIBERTY AD PEDS growth analysis, children aged 6 to 11 years with severe AD who were below the 30th height percentile at baseline showed significantly greater height gain with dupilumab than placebo over 16 weeks. The proportion achieving at least a 5-percentile improvement in height-for-age was 31.9% with dupilumab versus 11.1% with placebo (P <.05).

Logistic regression models confirmed the growth benefit remained significant after adjustment for cumulative topical corticosteroid (TCS) dose (Odds Ratio, 4.21; 95% CI, 1.40-12.63; P = .010), indicating dupilumab's effect appears independent of reduced TCS use.

In LIBERTY AD PRESCHOOL, caregivers of infants and children aged 6 months to 5 years reported significantly better Caregiver Global Impression of Disease scores, indicating no or mild symptoms, with dupilumab versus placebo from week 2, the earliest timepoint measured. By week 16, 51.8% of caregivers in the dupilumab group reported no or mild symptoms versus 5.5% with placebo.

On the Caregiver Global Impression of Change, 67.1% of caregivers in the dupilumab group rated symptoms as much better or moderately better at week 16 versus 11.2% with placebo (P <.0001), a difference of 55.9 percentage points.

3-Year Body-Region Data from PED-OLE

The PED-OLE open-label extension (NCT02612454) enrolled children from both LIBERTY AD PRESCHOOL (ages 6 months to 5 years; N=180) and LIBERTY AD PEDS (ages 6-11 years; N=383), providing up to 152 weeks of continuous dupilumab data. The analysis examined EASI-75 and EASI-90 by anatomic region: head, trunk, upper extremities, and lower extremities.

In children aged 6 months to 5 years at week 52, EASI-90 response rates were 91.9% for head/neck, 81.8% for trunk, 85.4% for upper extremities, and 77.7% for lower extremities. In the 6-11 year age group at week 152, EASI-90 rates were 80.9% for head, 77.7% for trunk, 86.4% for upper extremities, and 75.3% for lower extremities.

Treatment-emergent adverse events led to permanent discontinuation in 1.1% of the younger cohort and 0.8% of the older cohort. Drug-related serious treatment-emergent adverse events were infrequent (0.6% and 0.3%).

References

1. Irvine AD, Paller AS, Siegfried EC, et al. Growth improvement in children 6 to 11 years with severe atopic dermatitis treated with dupilumab irrespective of TCS use. Presented at: Revolutionizing Atopic Dermatitis; Nashville, TN; June 17-19, 2026.

2. Weibel L, Prajapati VH, Vainder E, et al. Caregiver impressions of disease and change in infants and children aged 6 months to 5 years with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. Presented at: Revolutionizing Atopic Dermatitis; Nashville, TN; June 17-19, 2026.

3. Paller AS, Siegfried EC, Pinter A, et al. Long-term dupilumab treatment resulted in consistent improvements across anatomic regions in pediatric patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. Presented at: Revolutionizing Atopic Dermatitis; Nashville, TN; June 17-19, 2026.