Lilly leaves investors itching for more details

Lilly and Almirall’s atopic dermatitis contender lebrikizumab has prevailed in its pivotal trials, Advocate 1 and 2. But, other than the groups saying “more than half” of patients achieved 75% skin clearance, or Easi-75, details were thin on the ground. Investors will have to wait for an undisclosed 2022 medical meeting to see whether lebri has held its own in a cross-trial comparison against Sanofi and Regeneron’s Dupixent. The signs are good: in Dupixent’s pivotal trials, 51 and 44% of patients receiving the drug every other week met Easi-75 on a non-placebo-adjusted basis. It will also be important to see how lebri performed on its second co-primary endpoint, the proportion of patients with an IGA score of 0 or 1. Another factor is how different dosing regimens of lebri fared: patients received the drug every two or four weeks, potentially giving lebri a convenience advantage over Dupixent. Finally, safety will be on the agenda as it is hoped that lebri could sidestep the issue of conjunctivitis, which occurred in 10% of patients in Dupixent’s monotherapy trials. Lilly said today that conjunctivitis was one of the most common adverse events seen with lebri, so actual numbers will be keenly awaited.