2024-02-01 11:31:26
Highly awaited by patients suffering from autoimmune disease, this cream provides significant results, particularly on the face.
Published on 02/01/2024 12:31
Reading time: 2 min Skin depigmentation due to vitiligo affects less than 2% of the population. (EVA SZOMBAT / MOMENT RF / GETTY IMAGES)
Her name: Opzelura. For the first time in France, a drug has just been approved by health authorities once morest vitiligo, this disease which depigments the skin. Health Insurance gave the green light on Wednesday January 31 for it to be reimbursed: the treatment is therefore available now, initially in hospital pharmacies.
This cream, Opzelura, is reserved for adults and adolescents over 12 years old and must be applied twice a day to areas depigmented by vitiligo. The body cells responsible for skin pigmentation (melanocytes), destroyed because of this autoimmune disease, will therefore be able to colonize the skin once more, repigment it and restore its original color.
This treatment, which lasts between 6 and 24 months, currently only concerns patients whose vitiligo is localized and affects less than 10% of the body. Professor Thierry Passeron, head of the dermatology department at Nice University Hospital, participated in clinical trials on this drug and affirms that this treatment “works very well on the face“.
After a year, approximately half of patients will regain complete or almost complete repigmentation.
Thierry Passeron, head of the dermatology department at Nice University Hospital
franceinfo
To obtain better results, this dermatologist thinks that in the future, Opzelura might be combined with ultraviolet sessions in the cabin, under the supervision of a dermatologist. But studies have yet to confirm this.
However, the effectiveness of the treatment is not equal depending on the part of the body. “Where it still remains very difficult is unfortunately the extremities of the hands or feet. The results are still disappointing“, admits Professor Passeron, also a member of the French Society of Dermatology. But he remains optimistic: “It is still the first hope and the first treatment, in my opinion, in a long series. Until now, doctors prescribed treatments once morest eczema, without marketing authorization (AMM) and therefore not reimbursed. We were able to help our patients with these medications and corticosteroids combined with ultraviolet light. Now we have a unique medicine dedicated to vitiligo. In studies it has shown its usefulness and good tolerance. The next step will certainly be to find a treatment for people who have diffuse vitiligo.“
Four clinical trials are currently underway in France to find treatments for patients suffering from this pathology more widely. Without being painful, vitiligo remains very socially disabling and today affects 1 to 2% of the population, or 600,000 to 1 million French people.
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