Anti-acne drugs in phase 1 and 2 clinical trials

Introduction: Despite the impressive increase of knowledge on acne etiology accumulated during the last 20years, few efforts have been overtaken to introduce new therapeutic regiments targeting the ideal treatment of acne. The increasing emergence of microbial resistance associated with antibiotics, teratogenicity, particularly associated with systemic isotretinoin, and the need for an adverse drug profile, which can be tolerated by the patient, make the need of new pathogenesis relevant anti-acne agents an emerging issue.Areas covered: A search for phase 1 and 2 acne treatment trials in the US National Institutes of Health database of clinical trials and the European Medicines Agency database with the key words acne' and treatment' was carried out, on 6 January 2017.Expert opinion: The detected trials mostly investigate topical agents that may act via sebosuppressive effects, antimicrobial properties or anti-inflammatory actions. The compounds under investigation include olumacostat glasaretil, cortexolone 17-propionate, stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 inhibitors, agents affecting the melanocortin system, omiganan, and minocycline. Systemic studied anti-acne drugs include finasteride, biologics, low dose anti-inflammatory antibiotics, and leukotriene B4 inhibitors.