Hyal Drug Clears Premalignant Sunspots

Hyal Pharmaceutical has reported that its 3% diclofenac gel, HYAL-CT1101, can clear actinic keratoses, known as solar keratosis or sunspots, skin lesions which can be precancerous and are caused by overexposure to sunlight.

47% of patients who received HYAL-CT1101 were clinically cured of all lesions by the end of the study, compared to 19% in the placebo group (p<0.001). Patients receiving the active drug also experienced a 79% decrease in their total number of skin lesions (p<0.001) compared to the placebo group. The placebo group experienced a 60% decrease in the number of lesions, but Hyal maintains that this level of response is not unexpected with this type of therapy. Hyal is releasing the data to potential licensees of the drug.