Alan Irvine, MD, DSc, is a professor of fermatology at Trinity College Dublin, a physician scientist, and a consultant dermatologist at Children's Health Ireland and St. James's Hospital.

Alan Irvine, MD

2025 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress

 in Paris, Alan Irvine, MD, professor of dermatology at Trinity College in Ireland, was asked about his team’s presentation of a poster titled ‘Growth Improvement in Children 6-11 Years with Severe Atopic Dermatitis Treated with Dupilumab Irrespective of TCS Use.’

Children aged 6 - 11 years had been enrolled in this phase 3, 16-week, placebo-controlled study titled LIBERTY AD PEDS study (NCT03345914).

 Findings were highlighted in a prior interview with 

 In this segment of his interview, Irvine discussed additional elements notable to his team’s research on dupilumab.

Highlighting LIBERTY AD PEDS Findings on Dupilumab for Atopic Dermatitis, With Alan Irvine, MD

“It's been known, with a degree of scientific certainty, in work Jonathan Silverberg and others did that kids with moderate to severe, and particularly severe, atopic dermatitis do fall behind on their growth curves,” Irvine explained. “This is the first time that in an RCT that growth has been measured in a randomized control trial and has shown that the treatment arm allows those kids to, in some large part, catch up on that hidden growth potential. So that's something parents and caregivers, and children themselves, need to know. It's a positive thing.”

Irvine’s team’s findings on topical corticosteroids (TCS) implementation and the number of treatment-free days. Both had appeared in the study to be independent of the effects of a 16-week dupilumab regimen on increased growth in this 6 - 11-year patient group versus those on placebo. Later, Irvine was asked if there had been any plans developed to follow this cohort longer to assess sustained growth or other health outcomes.

“Some of those PEDS AD studies went into long-term extension studies, but when we're looking specifically at the effect of placebo versus active, it was only out to 16 weeks,” Irvine explained. “So that's the only kind of fair scientific comparison that we had in our paper. Some but not all of those children are in long-term extensions for outcomes. But because they're all on long-term extensions, they know they're on the drug at that point. So it's it's a little harder to tease out the drug effect versus a placebo.”

Lastly, Irvine was asked about what he hopes clinicians walk away with in terms of takeaways about dupilumab, TCS, and atopic dermatitis.

“Atopic dermatitis, particularly when it's severe, it really has a very profound effect on children's health,” Irvine said. “Beyond their skin, their age, and their sleep, their development ties in with their mental health and their performance in school. These are what we might call non-atopic comorbidities. Everybody knows about food allergy, asthma, allergic rhinitis, esophagitis, and so on, but these are really important things early in life.”

For any further information, view Irvine’s interview segment from EADV above.

The quotes used in this interview summary were edited for the purposes of clarity.

Irvine has reported serving as a consultant for AbbVie, Almirall, Arena Pharmaceuticals, BenevolentAI, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Dermavant, Eli Lilly, Genentech, LEO Pharma, Menlo Therapeutics, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, Sanofi, and UCB; as a speaker for AbbVie, Eli Lilly, LEO Pharma, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, and Sanofi; and as an investigator for AbbVie, DS Biopharma, Inflazome, Novartis, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, and Sanofi.

Irvine A, Paller A, Cyr S, et al. Growth Improvement in Children 6 to 11 Years Old with Severe Atopic Dermatitis Treated with Dupilumab Irrespective of TCS Use. Presented at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) 2025 Congress. Paris, France. September 17-20, 2025.

Irvine A. Dupilumab Impacts on Children with Atopic Dermatitis Irrespective of TCS, With Alan Irvine, MD. HCPLive. October 14, 2025. Accessed October 15, 2025. 

https://www.hcplive.com/view/dupilumab-impacts-children-atopic-dermatitis-irrespective-tcs-alan-irvine-md

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This interview segment with Irvine highlighted his team’s data presented at EADV regarding children 6-11 years with atopic dermatitis on dupilumab. 

2025 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) 2025 Congress

 in Paris, investigators presented data in a poster titled ‘Growth Improvement in Children 6-11 Years with Severe Atopic Dermatitis Treated with Dupilumab Irrespective of TCS Use.’

 interview with Alan Irvine, MD, professor of dermatology at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Irvine spoke with the editorial team following EADV about his team’s findings on dupilumab in children with severe 

Dupilumab Impacts on Children with Atopic Dermatitis Irrespective of TCS, with Alan Irvine, MD

Dupilumab Impacts on Children with Atopic Dermatitis Irrespective of TCS, With Alan Irvine, MD

“It's an interesting story that we've been working on with Regeneron and Sanofi for about 4 years,” Irvine explained. “So one of the things that I noticed in the 6 to 11 years study, the PEDS AD study, was that there was a higher proportion of kids who had elevated alkaline phosphatase in the treatment arm, as opposed to the placebo arm, in that study. That gave me a clue that something might be happening with their bone metabolism.”

Irvine and colleagues’ enrolled children in this age range into the phase 3, 16-week, placebo-controlled LIBERTY AD PEDS study (NCT03345914).

 Previous analyses from this trial had included 114 individuals and assessed the proportion of those who were below the 30th height percentile at baseline and experienced a ≥5-percentile increase in height after 16 weeks of treatment with dupilumab versus placebo.

In the newer study, the investigators used a standardized topical corticosteroid (TCS) regimen, documenting cumulative TCS utilization as well as the number of TCS-free and inhaled corticosteroid (ICS)-free days throughout the 16-week period of treatment. They also carried out multiple logistic regression analyses, with the primary outcome of the analysis being defined as attainment of a ≥5-percentile gain in height from baseline to the 16-week mark.

“...When we controlled for topical corticosteroid use, that did not influence the effect of the dupilumab versus the placebo arm,” Irvine said. “Because in this trial, people were allowed to use combination therapy with topical corticosteroids. The kids on dupilumab did use less as you'd expect, because their skin was improving with the drug effect, but that didn't explain the difference in their in growth objectives.”

Irvine highlighted his team’s findings on TCS use and the number of treatment-free days, with both appearing to be independent of the impacts of 16 weeks of dupilumab use on increased growth in this 6 - 11-year population versus those on placebo.

Overall, the data indicate that TCS use reductions among those treated with dupilumab may not be contributing to growth increases. They also suggest that any potential negative impacts of TCS use on growth will likely not be counteracted by dupilumab.

For any additional information, view Irvine’s interview segment from EADV above.

The quotes contained in this summary were edited for the purposes of clarity.

Blauvelt A, Guttman-Yassky E, Bansal A, et al. Long-Term Efficacy and Safety of Dupilumab in Adolescents with Moderate-to-Severe Atopic Dermatitis: Results Through Week 52 from a Phase III Open-Label Extension Trial (LIBERTY AD PED-OLE). Am J Clin Dermatol. 2022 May;23(3):365-383. 

. Epub 2022 May 14. PMID: 35567671; PMCID: PMC9142443.

In this interview, improvements observed in children 6-11 years with severe atopic dermatitis following dupilumab use were spotlighted.

Alan Irvine, MD

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