Raymond Douglas, MD, PhD: New Hope for Thyroid Eye Disease Patients

New research shows teprotumumab can be a beneficial treatment for patients suffering from thyroid eye disease (TED), even across different age-, gender-, and risk factor-based subgroups.

In an analysis that was scheduled to be presented at ENDO 2020, investigators examined a phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trial of the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor inhibitory monoclonal antibody, indicated teprotumumab was effective across multiple subgroups of patients across the 24-week trials.

In January, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved teprotumumab as the only treatment for TED.

From the pair of 24-week randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled, parallel-group clinical trials, investigators identified a total of 171 patients with active TED associated with Graves’ disease.

The study eye was designated at baseline manifested more severe TED and a clinical score of more than 4. Investigators segmented patients into subgroups based on gender, smoking status and age at baseline. The primary outcomes of the study was the percentage of proptosis responders and proptosis change from baseline.

In an interview with HCPLive®, Raymond Douglas, MD, PhD, director of the Orbital and Thyroid Eye Disease Center at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, explained the importance of the teprotumumab in treating this patient group and how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) might impact thyroid eye disease patients.