Topical therapy with nadifloxacin cream and prednicarbate cream improves acneiform eruptions caused by the EGFR-inhibitor cetuximab – A report of 29 patients

Abstract

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor cetuximab is used to treat advanced stages of solid tumors. Acneiform skin eruptions, the most common side effects of cetuximab, stigmatize the patient in daily life and may lower compliance. As oral treatment of acneiform eruptions with tetracyclines or isotretinoin might interfere with cetuximab efficacy or cause drug interactions, an effective topical treatment regimen is needed. An uncontrolled, open label follow-up study involving 29 oncology patients with cetuximab-induced acneiform eruptions was performed with a combination of nadifloxacin cream once daily and prednicarbate cream once daily for 6 weeks. Clinical efficacy was graded before and after 1, 2 and 6 weeks of treatment by a dermatologist using a severity score for acneiform eruptions. The majority of patients improved significantly with a reduction of papules, pustules and erythema between all time points analyzed. Topical treatment with a combination of nadifloxacin cream and prednicarbate cream is a highly efficient and well tolerated therapy for acneiform eruptions associated with cetuximab based chemotherapy and merits further investigation.