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.1

In a previous article, HCPLive 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).

References

1. 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.