Acne Vulgaris Discussions and Research

A new analysis of data from an earlier study found that an acne medication that was investigated as a possible preventive treatment for skin cancer did not cause the excessive deaths that led to the premature termination of that study.

The earlier study, known as the Veterans Affairs Topical Tretinoin Chemoprevention (VATTC) trial, ran from 1998 to May 2004. It enrolled 1,131 veterans with an average age of 71. Most were men. The participants were randomly assigned to two groups. One group applied a cream containing 0.1% tretinoin (the highest dose available commercially) to their face and ears twice daily. The other group applied a placebo cream.

The retinoid tretinoin, an acid form of vitamin A, is a common topical treatment for acne. It’s sold under several brand names, including Retin-A, Avita and Renova.

The VATTC trial was designed to determine if a high dose of topical tretinoin could prevent certain types of skin cancer in high-risk people. The trial was stopped, however, when an unexpectedly high mortality rate was observed in the study’s treatment arm (82 deaths in the treatment arm versus 53 in the placebo arm).

The authors of the new analysis, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and published in the Archives of Dermatology, found no evidence for a cause-and-effect relationship between the tretinoin treatment and the increased risk of death. “We observed an association of topical tretinoin therapy with death, but we do not infer a causal association that current evidence suggests is unlikely,” they concluded.

Source: Weinstock MA, Bingham SF, Lew RA, et al. Topical tretinoin therapy and all-cause mortality. Arch Dermatol. 2009;145:18-24

This entry was posted on Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Lotions and Potions, Side Effects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.