Real-World Data Shed Light on Abrocitinib Use for Atopic Dermatitis, With Raj Chovatiya, MD, PhD

New data from the European Association of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) 2025 Congress is shedding light on real-world use of abrocitinib (Cinbiqo) in patients with atopic dermatitis.

“One of the things that's lacking, often for our medications, beyond clinical trial data, is real-world data, and specifically real-world data that is heterogeneous, meaning that it's gathered across a large population, rather than a single center or a single practice or a single person,” explained study investigator Raj Chovatiya, MD, PhD, dermatologist and clinical associate professor at Rosalind Franklin University Chicago Medical School, founder and director of the Center for Medical Dermatology and Immunology Research in Chicago, in an interview with HCPLive. “And this particular analysis with abrocitinib is one of the bigger, newer analyses that we have.”

An oral JAK1 inhibitor, abrocitinib received approval for moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis from the US Food and Drug Administration for adults in 2022 and adolescents in 2023, but real-world evidence on its use remains limited.

At EADV 2025 Congress, a recent retrospective observational study leveraged the OMNY Health Database to understand the characteristics of patients initiating abrocitinib in outpatient dermatology practices nationwide. The analysis included adolescents and adults with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis who received abrocitinib between January 2022 and February 2025.

Data were drawn from general and dermatology electronic health records (EHRs) linked to open claims. Patients were required to have a confirmed AD diagnosis, with exclusions consistent with product labeling.

A total of 315 patients were identified, of whom 8.3% were adolescents and 91.7% were adults. Of these patients, 35% had prior biologic exposure, with dupilumab representing the most common biologic therapy (34.6%). Investigators noted oral prednisone use was also frequent (49.2%).

Assessment of comorbidities revealed overweight or obesity (43.5%), anxiety (41.3%), allergic rhinitis (38.7%), contact dermatitis (37.8%), and depression (34.3%) were the most common comorbidities.

Investigators found a greater proportion of adolescents initiated therapy at the 200-mg dose compared with adults (23.1% vs 13.8%).

Only 13.3% of patients had documented clinician- or patient-reported severity measures at baseline or within 42 days prior to starting abrocitinib. Among this group, 95.2% reported involvement of the upper extremities and 52.8% reported severe itch scores on the Itch Numeric Rating Scale, while clinician-reported disease severity by Investigator’s Global Assessment was most commonly rated as moderate (40.5%).

Relevant disclosures for Chovatiya include AbbVie, Amgen, AnaptysBio, Apogee Therapeutics, Arcutis, Argenx, ASLAN Pharmaceuticals, Beiersdorf, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cara Therapeutics, CLn Skin Care, Dermavant, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, FIDE, Formation Bio, Galderma, Genentech, GSK, Incyte, LEO Pharma, L'Oréal, Nektar Therapeutics, Novartis, Opsidio, Pfizer, RAPT, Regeneron, Sanofi, Sitryx, Takeda, TRex Bio, and UCB.

References:

1. Chovatiya R. Abrocitinib Treatment for Moderate-to-Severe Atopic Dermatitis Observed in Electronic Health Records and Administrative Claims in a US-Based Real-World Dermatology Setting: Patient Characteristics and Baseline Disease Severity. Presented at the European Association of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) 2025 Congress. Paris, France. September 17-21, 2025.

2. Pfizer Inc. U.S. FDA Approves Pfizer’s CIBINQO® (abrocitinib) for Adults with Moderate-to-Severe Atopic Dermatitis | Pfizer. Pfizer.com. Published January 14, 2022. Accessed September 17, 2025. https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/us-fda-approves-pfizers-cibinqor-abrocitinib-adults

3. Pfizer Inc. FDA Approves Pfizer’s Supplemental New Drug Application for CIBINQO® (abrocitinib) | Pfizer. www.pfizer.com. Published February 10, 2023. Accessed September 17, 2025. https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/fda-approves-pfizers-supplemental-new-drug-application