Efficacy and safety of microencapsulated benzoyl peroxide and microencapsulated tretinoin for the treatment of acne vulgaris: Results from two phase 3 double-blind, randomized, vehicle-controlled studies

Abstract

Benzoyl peroxide and tretinoin are commonly prescribed acne treatments. Historically, they have been difficult to combine in a single formulation due to chemical instability, and both medications are potentially irritating. Microencapsulation helps overcome these challenges. Examine efficacy, safety, and tolerability of encapsulated BPO/encapsulated tretinoin (E-BPO/T) cream, 3%/0.1%. Subjects ≥9 years old with moderate to severe acne were enrolled in 2 multicenter, double-blind, vehicle-controlled, parallel trials and randomized (2:1) to 12weeks of once-daily E-BPO/T (n=571) or vehicle cream (n=287). E-BPO/T was significantly superior to vehicle in both studies, with more subjects achieving IGA success with E-BPO/T (38.5%/25.4%) versus vehicle (11.5%/14.7%; P<.001/P=.017). The change from baseline in inflammatory lesion count for E-BPO/T was -21.6 versus -14.8 for vehicle (P<.001) in study 1 and -16.2 versus -14.1 (P=.018) in study 2. The changes from baseline in noninflammatory lesions for E-BPO/T were -29.7 versus -19.8 for vehicle (P<.001) and -24.2 and -17.4 (P<.001) in studies 1 and 2, respectively. E-BPO/T was well tolerated in both studies. Long-term data are not available. E-BPO/T provided statistically significant and clinically relevant improvements in IGA and inflammatory and noninflammatory lesion counts and was well tolerated in subjects with moderate to severe acne.