Allergan and Aczone: Likely a Winning Combination

Implications: Allergan has a strong infrastructure to support dermatologic and aesthetic products.  Aczone, an aqueous topical gel containing 5% dapsone, will be a new product which will help treat patients with acne.  "The strength of topical dapsone gel appears to be its high efficacy against inflammatory acne lesions.  Both rapid onset of action and tolerability make this agent a potentially nice complement to traditional antimicrobial and comedolytic acne regimens." (Draelos ZD, Carter E, Maloney JM, et al, J Am Acad Dermatol. 2007;56:439.e1-e10.)  Based on the study results available, it appears Aczone will provide an additional treatment option which will benefit patients.  Given the number of patients afflicted with acne, I believe Allergan will ultimately view this as a favorable acquisition.

Analysis: In two randomized double-blind, vehicle-controlled clinical studies in 3,000 acne patients, Aczone Gel achieved statistically significant percent reduction in the number of acne lesions and better success rate on the Global Acne Assessment Score."  Although approved by the FDA in July 2005, this medication has not been widely used to treat acne on patients in the United States.  Therefore, Allergan is betting that (1) the findings of the clinical study will be consistent with the experience patients have post-launch and (2) physicians will embrace this new medication.  Allergan has an excellent track record with launching and integrating new products into its armamentarium.  The study, which was published in a reputable peer-reviewed journal, appears to describe an effective product which will help many patients and, ultimately, Allergan's bottom line.