Cancer Warning Suggested for Eczema Creams.
Expert Panel Recommends "Black Box" Warning for Elidel, Protopic
Feb. 16, 2005 -- Two relatively new and very popular prescription creams used to treat eczema in children and adults may soon carry a "black box" warning -- indicating the drugs represent a cancer risk for some.
In an FDA meeting, a distinguished nationwide panel of experts reviewed medical data that linked Elidel and Protopic with an increased risk of skin cancer and lymphoma.
Their recommendation: That both medications carry a warning that the drugs may increase the risk of cancer. They continue to back the original FDA ruling that the drugs should not be used in children under the age of 2.
"We made our recommendation based on animal data and biologic plausibility combined with the fact that the use of these products is increasing tremendously," says Dianne Murphy, MD, committee member and FDA director of the Office of Pediatric Therapeutics.
Both drugs are currently approved for the treatment of eczema, an inflammatory condition of the skin which affects some 15 million Americans, 20% of whom are children. The condition causes dry, red, itchy skin that can blister or develop scaly patches.
The majority of patients develop their first bout of eczema before they are 12 months old. Both Elidel and Protopic are currently approved for use in children aged 2 and up.
While the FDA committee recommends a stern warning for all those who use the drug, Murphy stresses that there were no human clinical trials that indicated cancer was a risk.
However, she tells WebMD that the committee reviewed numerous animal studies that did indicate a risk, including one monkey study that showed an increasing risk of developing tumors as doses increased.
"The greater the dose the greater the number of tumors -- and with the highest dose we saw seven out of eight monkeys develop tumors," says Murphy.
Equally important was the "biologic plausibility of the drugs" -- meaning, the way in which the medications work. These medications suppress the immune system, which may be a precipitating factor in the development of cancer.
"It depends greatly on what other precipitating factors may be present in an individual patient's profile, but this could certainly be a contributing factor under certain circumstances," says Murphy.