As someone with acne-prone skin, the crux of my skin-care routine isn’t luxurious cleansers or innovative pimple pads. In fact, the most important step of my skin-care routine happens far away from the sink. It’s opening a pillbox and taking prescription oral medication. But thanks to a new topical antibiotic treatment approved this week by the Food and Drug Administration, I, and all the other acneic skin types like me, may have slightly fewer stress dreams about leaving home without your trusty acne pills in tow. Last week, the FDA announced the approval of Amzeeq, a topical form of the antiobiotic minocycline. Until now, minocycline has only been available as an oral antibiotic. Amzeeq, a product of parent company Foamix Pharmaceuticals, marks the first time it’s been available in non-pill form.
“Minocyline is the main oral antibiotic for treating moderate and severe cystic acne,” says Howard Sobel, clinical cosmetic dermatologist at Lenox Hill hospital. “Now we have Amzeeq, which delivers minocycline in a foam form. It’s exciting because it avoids the possible oral complications seen with oral minocyline and has all the same beneficial effects.” Specifically, Amzeeq is indicated to treat “inflammatory lesions of non-nodular moderate to severe acne vulgaris,” the medical term for common acne.
Minocycline has never before been available as a topical treatment due to the molecule’s instability in typical topical formulations, says David Domzalski, chief executive officer of Foamix. “In Amzeeq, Foamix has leveraged its proprietary Molecule Stabilizing Technology (MST) platform to effectively deliver minocycline in a foam-based vehicle,” he says. “Amzeeq now provides a new way to get the efficacy of minocycline, but in a convenient, once-daily topical application.”…..Read more
