Don’t ‘Abandon’ Current Interventions
“We’ve got an exciting drug that is going to help a lot of people with a complex disease,” Dr. Katz said. “But we should not forget that there are other interventions that have been successful, and quite frankly, they don’t need to be abandoned.”
“Learn about the drug if you’ve never used it,” he advised. “Read the studies so you understand who the patients were as a baseline for where you’re going to use it. Be prepared to do the appropriate paperwork requirements to get approvals from insurers. And look for more literature because it’s coming.”
“Overall, dupilumab has really changed care in people with moderate to severe disease who are not responding or are intolerant to the other treatments,” Dr. Dellon said. “That’s the natural place for the medication to go at this point.”
Dr. Katz is a consultant to Phathom Pharma, Sebela Pharma, Medpace (not active), and Medtronic.
Dr. Dellon received research funding from Adare/Ellodi, Allakos, Arena/Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Eupraxia, Ferring, GSK, Meritage, Miraca, Nutricia, Celgene/Receptos/BMS, Regeneron, Revolo, and Shire/Takeda. He served as a consultant to Abbott, AbbVie, Adare/Ellodi, Aimmune, Akesobio, Alfasigma, ALK, Allakos, Amgen, Aqilion, Arena/Pfizer, Aslan, AstraZeneca, Avir, Biorasi, Calypso, Celgene/Receptos/BMS, Celldex, Eli Lilly, EsoCap, Eupraxia, Dr. Falk Pharma, Ferring, GSK, Gossamer Bio, Holoclara, Invea, Knightpoint, Landos, LucidDx, Morphic, Nexstone Immunology/Uniquity, Nutricia, Parexel/Calyx, Phathom, Regeneron, Revolo, Robarts/Alimentiv, Salix, Sanofi, Shire/Takeda, Target RWE, and Upstream Bio. He also received educational grants from Allakos, Aqilion, Holoclara, and Invea.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.