A comparative multicentre trial of halometasone/triclosan cream and betamethasone dipropionate/gentamicin sulphate cream in the treatment of infected acute eczematous dermatitis.

A multicentre, between-patient, comparative trial was carried out to compare the efficacy and tolerability of a cream containing 0.05 halometasone and 1% triclosan with those of a cream with 0.05% betametasone dipropionate and 0.1% gentamicin sulphate in patients suffering from infected acute ezcematous dermatoses. In the evaluable trial population, consisting of 265 patients, halometasone/triclosan cream yielded a significantly (p = 0.001) higher success rate ('good' to 'very good' results), namely 96%, than the comparative cream (80%). Halometasone/triclosan cream also displayed a significantly (p = 0.008) higher cure rate (73.9%) than that observed with the comparative preparation (58.6%). The proportion of patients obtaining an early cure, i.e. in less than 20 days, was significantly (p = 0.0005) higher with halometasone/triclosan cream (42.5%) than with the comparative preparation (22.6%). The two preparations did not differ significantly with regard to the incidence and severity of adverse effects.