DEBRA UK is pleased to announce that it has approved its first drug repurposing clinical trial which has been made possible with funding raised through the A Life Free of Pain appeal.
This clinical trial will see an existing licensed treatment for psoriasis (apremilast) clinically tested on children and adults with severe epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS).
The study will be led by Dr Christine Chiaverini, a dermatologist who works at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice in France. Encouraging results published after an initial small trial, showed that it appears to reduce blistering in patients who have the severe form of epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS).
We are now funding a larger trial to measure not only blistering but also whether it could improve quality of life for people with the severe form of EBS by reducing pain and itch. In total the clinical trial is set to take two years to complete.
Commenting on the trial, DEBRA UK CEO Tony Byrne said:
“I look forward to seeing the positive results of this very important clinical trial. Since we launched the A Life Free of Pain appeal, one of our three core objectives has been to raise £3m in funding to enable the acceleration of our drug repurposing programme. This is the first of what we hope will be many EB clinical trials as we accelerate our drug repurposing programme to find effective treatments that could help stop the pain of EB. These drug treatments could have a positive impact on the symptoms of EB such as blistering, pain, and itch, and improve overall quality of life."
Find out more in the news section on the DEBRA UK website.