Acne treatments vie for market share

Abstract

Acne vulgaris therapy is a multi-million dollar market in the US alone. Although there are several retinoid drugs that are effective as treatment for this indication, the marketplace is dominated by just 2 of these: oral isotretinoin and topical tretinoin. Both of these agents have sales of over $US100 million per year. However, the use of other retinoids is increasing as new drugs are introduced and further research is conducted. Furthermore, recent insights into the pathogenesis of acne have led to the consideration of more novel approaches to acne therapy. These new developments in acne treatment were discussed at the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) [ San Francisco, US; March 1997 ].