NCT06447480

Clinical Trial to Compare Oral Isotretinoin to Standard of Care in Moderate Acne Skin of Color Patients

Randomized Clinical Trial to Compare Oral Isotretinoin to Standard of Care in Moderate Acne Skin of Color Patients: ETHNIC Study

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: Phase 3
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 420 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 13 Years – 30 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

In Dermatology, assessment of people of color remains underrepresented in RCTs (\<10%) and guidelines. Acne affects around 9% of the population worldwide and negatively affects quality of life and self-esteem with anxiety, suicidal ideation and physical scarring. Main lesions associate comedons, inflammatory papules and pustules which grading of severity allows decision-making, e.g., topicals in mild acne and isotretinoin in severe acne. In darker skin type patients, i.e., Fitzpatrick phototypes IV-VI, acne-related pigmentation (ARP) occurs in 65% of cases which reflects either per- or post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Whatever is the mechanism, ARP (number, size, importance of dyschromia) impacts the quality of life in such patients. In moderate acne, treatment is based on oral antibiotics for 3 months, i.e., doxycycline or lymecycline, with topical treatment like tretinoin targeting comedons (and potentially ARP). However, oral antibiotics first-line were developed in white skin patients only and never showed its efficacy in ARP. Moreover, doxycycline could be associated with new-onset hyperpigmentation in acne patients. Isotretinoin -acting on the sebaceous gland and therefore the most effective drug in acne- is only prescribed after failure of antibiotics according to the guidelines.The main objective: To assess the superiority at M6 of a treatment of moderate facial acne in skin of color patients with oral isotretinoin in first line compared to the current standard of care on the severity of ARP.Multicenter randomized controlled trial - open study. The number of subjects required for the trial = 420

Conditions

• Acne Vulgaris

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	ISOtretinoin 5 MG	The dose is usually of 0.5 mg/kg/d. If tolerance is poor, the dose of isotretinoin can be decreased to 0.25 mg/kg/d. After 3 months of treatment, a clinical evaluation is performed. The dose of isotretinoin can be increased up to 1 mg/kg/d depending on the efficacy (ECLA graded as moderated or severe) and tolerance. A total cumulative dose between 120 to 150 mg/kg is recommended.
DRUG	Topical cream	Topical retinoic acid (Effederm®) or adapalene cream (Differine®), associated during the 3 first months with doxycycline or lymecycline 100 mg/d. After 3 months, the efficacy is assessed. If acne improved, oral antibiotics are stopped and only the topical treatment is continued. If the ECLA is graded as moderated or severe, isotretinoin should be introduced.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-07-01
• Primary completion: 2026-09-01
• Completion: 2027-09-01
• First posted: 2024-06-07
• Last updated: 2025-03-25

Locations

16 sites across 2 countries: France, French Guiana