CLINICAL EFFICACY AND SAFETY COMPARISON OF ADAPALENE GEL AND TRETINOIN GEL IN THE TREATMENT OF ACNE-VULGARIS - EUROPE AND US MULTICENTER TRIALS

Background: Adapalene is a new chemical entity that exhibits tretinoin -like activities in the terminal differentiation process. Objective: W e evaluated a dose range effect of two concentrations of adapalene gel as acne treatment and compared adapalene 0.1% gel with tretinoin 0.02 5% gel in the treatment of acne patients in two large multicenter stud ies. Methods: Multicenter. investigator-masked, parallel group studies including 89 acne patients in the dose range study and 591 patients i n the concurrent controlled studies were conducted. Results: Adapalene gel 0.1% was significantly more effective in treating acne lesions th an 0.03% adapalene gel. Adapalene gel 0.1% was significantly more effe ctive than 0.025% or tretinoin gel in one study and of the same effect iveness in the other study. Adapalene gel was always better tolerated than tretinoin gel. Conclusion: Adapalene 0.1% gel is a safe and effec tive treatment of acne vulgaris.