AN2728 phase 2a results encouraging.

Implications: Anacor's recent release of the data from their phase 2a study of AN 2728  for psoriasis were encouraging.  Over 69% actively treated plaques of psoriasis improved versus only 6% of placebo treated plaques. The study was limited by the short duration- only 28 days versus up to 16 weeks for other trials, the limited number of patients- usually even phase 2 trials have a larger number of patients, and the use of the same patient for both active and placebo ointments. Also the strict definition of "improvement" was not given. A larger and longer study, with separate actively treated and placebo treated patients is needed. Also the use of standard criteria for psoriasis grading such as Pasi score reduction , reduction in psoriasis disease activity, or investigator global assesment will be important.

Analysis:   If the larger studies are positive then this compound, AN 2728 will offer a novel compound for treating psoriasis that is non steroid based. The only other competitors in this area of non steroid based compounds for psoriasis are Dovonex ( Waner- Chilcott) and Tazorac ( Allergan). This would offer a valuable addition to what we have available now and could even be used in combination with steroid compounds.