AAD 2026 and pipeline updates highlight new atopic dermatitis treatment data

Atopic dermatitis treatment updates in 2026 included long-term safety data for upadacitinib, phase 3 results for amlitelimab, and new late-stage data for rademikibart. Meeting highlights also included 5-year interim results for dupilumab in children younger than 12 and pivotal study results for MG-K10 in patients with moderate-to-severe disease.

Highlights in atopic dermatitis from the 2026 American Academy of Dermatology annual meeting included long-term safety of upadacitinib in moderate-to-severe AD, promising results for the monoclonal antibody amlitelimab, and robust outcomes for dupilumab in adolescents. A study examined 6 years of safety of the oral agent upadacitinib across all approved ages in moderate-to-severe AD. Patients were randomly assigned to doses of 15 mg and 30 mg, and rates of adverse events were generally low, but these were higher in patients over 65 years of age who took the 30 mg dose.

PEDISTAD 5-year interim results of dupilumab in moderate-to-severe AD in children younger than 12 showed that dupilumab numerically beat methotrexate and cyclosporin in every category evaluated. Dupilumab established the IL-4/IL-13 inhibitor class when it was approved for the treatment of atopic dermatitis in 2017, demonstrating robust and sustained improvements in disease severity through its inhibition of both IL-4 and IL-13.

For the first-in-class, amlitelimab, the phase 3 COAST-1 and -2 in adults as monotherapy provided progressive and significant improvement, and was well tolerated through week 24. Amlitelimab is also among the promising atopic dermatitis therapies in clinical trials.

Rademikibart, a fully human monoclonal antibody that targets IL-4 receptor alpha, achieved positive results in a phase 3 trial in patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. In the phase 3 trial, rademikibart achieved rapid, durable efficacy results across all its key endpoints. At week 52, 96.6% of patients had a 75% or greater reduction from baseline in their Eczema Area and Severity Index score, 85.3% of patients achieved 90% or greater improvement in EASI, and 87.1% had clear or almost clear skin on the Investigator’s Global Assessment of Atopic Dermatitis. The treatment was also well tolerated, with a safety profile comparable to placebo.

A pivotal study of MG-K10, a long-acting monoclonal antibody that targets the interleukin 4 receptor, showed superiority across all secondary outcomes and maintained these benefits through week 52 in patients with moderate-to-severe AD.

The atopic dermatitis market report listed emerging therapies including OX40 inhibitor rocatinlimab, OX40L inhibitor amlitelimab, PDE4 inhibitor orismilast, TSLP inhibitor bosakitug, IL-22RA1 blocker temtokibart, IL-4Rα blocker rademikibart, rezpegaldesleukin, APG777, and afimkibart. In 2024, the 7MM had approximately 53 million diagnosed cases of atopic dermatitis.