The Clinical Trials register has listed a new trial for papulopustular rosacea. The trial, sponsored by Intendis, the manufacturer of Finacea, wants to compare the combination of Oracea and Finacea, with the combination of Oracea and Metrogel 1%.
It seems clear from this that Intendis would like to position Finacea as a viable alternative to Metrogel. This makes good sense when you consider that Metrogel was responsible for generating sales of about $75 million in 2004.
Subjects with moderate papulopustular rosacea will be treated either with azelaic acid 15% gel topically plus an anti-inflammatory dose of doxycycline (40mg)daily or with metronidazole 1% gel topically once daily plus an anti-inflammatory dose of doxycycline (40mg) over at total of twelve weeks to determine the rapidity of improvement, and the length of time to reach 25%, 50% and 75% clearing compared to baseline.
Whilst sales of pharmaceuticals and thus returns to shareholders are a huge driving force in the big pharma market, this sort of venture is really just tinkering at the edges of rosacea research.
What we all long for, naturally, is real innovation. Real innovation costs big dollars too though, so in the end we do actually benefit from any increases in sales that these sorts of trials will hopefully lead to.
