Clascoterone Cream 1%: A New Treatment for Acne Vulgaris

Author: Maha Vijayakrishnan

A clascoterone cream a day keeps the dermatologist away!

Have you had acne and tried everything under the sun, but to only find out nothing works for you? Or maybe you have hormonal acne, but you don’t want to take oral medication to control it? Or maybe you want a minimally invasive acne treatment? Clascoterone cream 1% could be your answer. After nearly 40 years, this seemingly efficient and safe treatment is almost approved for public use.

This medication works by inhibiting androgen receptors. High androgen levels are linked with excess sebum. Testosterone (part of androgen levels) is also correlated with acne, which may explain why some men have more acne than females during puberty as they are producing increased levels of testosterone.

So why should you choose this treatment over treatments (i.e. antibiotics, exfoliating acids, retinoids)?

Women can’t take oral treatments during pregnancy as it may take a toll on their or the baby’s body. Even if they are not pregnant, these treatments can have drastic effects on their hormones, which may lead to mood changes. Additionally, a popular oral treatment called Accutane has been linked to inflammatory bowel disease and depression. As for antibiotics, the bacteria on the skin can become accustomed to the treatment and develop resistance through mutations. Clascoterone cream, 1%, was shown to be more effective and safer compared to tretinoin, 0.05% (Trifu V, Tiplica GS, et. al). Although this study did not mention exfoliating acids, clascoterone cream, 1%, holds potential for being a safe replacement.

Here are a patient’s results from applying clascoterone cream, 1%, twice daily (Hebert, Adelaide, et al.)

Participants showed a 18.4% and 20.4% improvement in acne from clascoterone cream, 1%, compared

to 9.0% and 6.5% improvement from a vehicle cream (Hebert, Adelaide, et al.).

So far, there isn’t a treatment that acts by the same mechanism as clascoterone cream, 1%. Because it inhibits androgen receptors, this treatment can also be used for curing hair loss. Sounds like the holy grail for people with acne and thin hair, right? Although using the cream for acne treatment is almost approved, the cream still must go through some more trials before being approved as a hair loss (alopecia) treatment. Scientists must also study the cream’s long-term effects and increase their sample size for future studies. Either way, the cream “is under consideration as a first-in-class therapeutic agent for acne treatment” (Hebert, Adelaide, et al.).

Talk to your dermatologist to see if this could work for you!

Sources:

https://skinkraft.com/blogs/articles/hormonal-acne

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7177662/

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cassiopea-announces-fda-submission-of-new-drug-application-for-clascoterone-cream-1-the-first-new-mechanism-of-action-for-acne-in-nearly-40-years-300904488.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/02/accutane-acne-drug-side-effects/516345/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21428978/