Anna Bruckner, MD, is a pediatric dermatologist, a professor of dermatology and pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and section head of pediatric dermatology and co-director of the Epidermolysis Bullosa Center of Excellence at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Anna Bruckner, MD

Importance of Birch Triterpene Findings for Epidermolysis Bullosa, with Anna Bruckner, MD

Following the phase 3 EASE study assessing the long-term efficacy and safety profile of birch triterpenes (Filsuvez), also known as Oleogel-S10, for dystrophic EB (DEB) and junctional EB (JEB), the trial’s 24-month, open-label phase took place.

 interviewed EASE investigator Anna Bruckner, MD, a professor of dermatology and pediatric dermatologist at the University of Colorado, to highlight her team’s conclusions on birch triterpenes effectiveness as a treatment for EB. In this segment, Bruckner was asked about the significance of the findings for patients.

“I think it is important keep these findings in mind with the overall picture of what exactly patients with EB have have to go through,” Bruckner said. “This therapy is designed to help wounds close faster, but it does not necessarily guarantee that those wounds are going to be staying closed, because it's not replacing any affected abnormal proteins in EB.”

Nevertheless, Bruckner added that faster wound healing is, for many patients, still clinically meaningful and likely would result in less wound burden. She added that this could even result in a reduction in terms of cost among individuals with EB. Later, Bruckner was asked to comment on patients’ unmet needs.

“I think that in addition to this therapy, there's 1 other approved treatment for EB,” Bruckner said. “It is beneficial for patients to have faster wound healing. I think what patients would also like to see is more durability of wound healing, meaning that the wounds are not just healing faster but they are staying closed.”

Bruckner further noted that only a small number of wounds can be treated at an individual time, highlighting another unmet need among those with EB.

“So you know treatments that better address the totality [are needed], so that the wound burden of patients are [addressed],” Bruckner said. “Treatments that also address some of the mucosal manifestations, whether or not you know that's the eyes, the mouth, the esophagus, and especially for our patients with recessive dystrophic EB, would also, I think, be really important. We also need better treatments for symptoms.”

Bruckner was then asked about the treatment pipeline for EB and what drugs may become available in the near future.

“I think what's exciting is that there are treatments being developed specifically for EB, and we also have the potential to use therapies that have been developed for other indications sort of in an off-label fashion, to treat some of the the symptoms that we're dealing with,” Bruckner said. “But in terms of what might be coming down the pipeline, a company called Abeona that is developing a therapy called pz-cel…looking at genetically corrected keratinocyte graphs for patients with recessive dystrophic EB. So I think that that's certainly very exciting. A similar approach, but using patients fibroblasts that have been genetically corrected, is also being investigated, and that could potentially be promising as well.”

To learn more, view the full interview segment posted above.

The quotes summarized in this article were edited for the purposes of clarity.

Bruckner noted the following disclosures for her interview: Amryt Pharma / Chiesi (contracted research, advisor/consultant, speaker); Castle Creek / Fibrocell (contracted research, advisor/consultant); Krystal Biotech (consultant); Phoenix Tissue Repair (contracted research); Phoenicis Therapeutics (formerly ProQR/Wings) (contracted research); RheaCell (contracted research); Twi Biotechnology (contracted research, consultant).

Murrell DF, Bodemer C, Bruckner AL, Cunningham T, Davis C, Fernández MF, Kiritsi D, Maher L, Sprecher E, Torres Pradilla M, Kern JS. Long-term safety and efficacy of Oleogel-S10 (birch bark extract) in epidermolysis bullosa: 24-month results from the Phase III EASE Study. Br J Dermatol. 2025 Jan 16:ljaf022. doi: 10.1093/bjd/ljaf022. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39821055.

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This interview highlights the significance of Bruckner’s recent phase 3 data on birch triterpenes as a potential treatment for dystrophic and junctional EB, as well as patients’ unmet needs.

The rare and severe dermatologic condition known as 

 is a group of severe genetic disorders impacting patients’ skin, promoting fragility and open wounds. Erosions, cutaneous and mucosal blistering, and impaired healing are all manifestations of the disease.

A phase 3 study titled EASE was conducted to evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of birch triterpenes (Filsuvez), also referred to as Oleogel-S10, among individuals with dystrophic EB (DEB) and junctional EB (JEB).

 After the EASE trial’s 24-month, open-label phase, the 

 team spoke with trial investigator Anna Bruckner, MD, professor of dermatology and pediatric dermatologist at the University of Colorado, to discuss new findings.

Phase 3 Findings on Birch Triterpenes for Epidermolysis Bullosa, with Anna Bruckner, MD

“This follows on the heels of a 90-day randomized control trial that looked at patients with epidermolysis bullosa who received [birch triterpenes] to treat the wounds that are associated with EB,” Bruckner explained. “The primary patient population was mainly patients with recessive dystrophic EB, but the study also included patients with dominant dystrophic and junctional EB.”

Bruckner highlighted the design of the EASE trial and its open-label extension trial. Those in the treatment cohorts of the double-blind phase entered the single-arm open-label phase, with all EB partial thickness wounds being treated with birch triterpenes. The endpoints of the study included data on adverse events, shifts in body surface area percentage of wounds, wound infection maximum severity, EB Disease Activity and Scarring Index (EBDASI), pruritus, disease severity, pain, and quality of life.

“The way that this therapy works is that it's a topical product that's applied to all of the open wound areas when the individuals’ bandages are changed,” Bruckner said. “And the major findings that the open-label study showed were that there was a sustained reduction overall in terms of wound burden for these patients and that, overall, the therapy is very safe…”

EASE’s findings on birch triterpenes were noted by Bruckner as encouraging, given the positive long-term safety profile of the treatment and the sustained reduction the investigators had observed in patients’ wound burden over at least 24 months of therapy.

The study demonstrated that while adverse events (AEs) were noted among 77.1% of subjects, such events were typically mild-to-moderate. Bruckner’s team found severe and serious AEs in 18.0% and 24.4% of participants, respectively.

“I think it is also important to keep in mind that…these patients do tend to have a lot of medical needs, and the nature of EB means that they're going to have problems with infections or other things that could be going on,” Bruckner said. “But thankfully, this open-label extension did not show that there was an increased risk of problems with treated wounds, such as infections and whatnot. So I think that was very reassuring. Also, there was not an increased risk for other complications that we think about with long-term wounds in patients with EB such as such squamous cell carcinoma.”

For additional information on these new data, view the full interview segment posted above.

The quotes contained in this summary were edited for clarity.

Bruckner highlighted the following disclosures for this interview: Amryt Pharma / Chiesi (contracted research, advisor/consultant, speaker); Castle Creek / Fibrocell (contracted research, advisor/consultant); Krystal Biotech (consultant); Phoenix Tissue Repair (contracted research); Phoenicis Therapeutics (formerly ProQR/Wings) (contracted research); RheaCell (contracted research); Twi Biotechnology (contracted research, consultant).

Bruckner discusses her team’s long-term data on the safety and efficacy of birch bark extract, also known as Oleogel-S10, for those with epidermolysis bullosa.


Anna Bruckner, MD

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