New Drugs and Therapies for 2016: Seborrheic Keratosis

Drs. Neal Bhatia and Ted Rosen

Part 6 of an 8-part series on the large number of new topical and systemic medications that have become available or moved closer to approval in the last 12 months.

A-101

Seborrheic keratosis (SK) lesions are one of the most common skin tumors, affecting over 83 million people in the United States. While benign, these lesions are often cosmetically disturbing, may become symptomatic (irritated, pruritic, painful) or may be confused with more serious skin lesions. At presently, SK lesions are treated by cryotherapy, electrosurgery, curettage, or surgical removal. Each of these methods may be painful or can result in pigmentary changes or scarring at the treatment site.

A-101 is a topical solution of hydrogen peroxide and results from a phase II study that compared two concentrations of A-101 and placebo in 172 subjects with SK lesions indicated that it had significant efficacy in removing SKs and was well tolerated. Two phase III clinical trials will evaluate the safety and efficacy of A-101 in approximately 800 patients.