An open-label, community-based, 12-week assessment of the effectiveness and safety of monotherapy with doxycycline 40 mg (30-mg immediate-release and 10-mg delayed-release beads).

Rosacea is a common inflammatory disorder of the skin of middle-aged and older adults. A unique 40-mg formulation of doxycycline (30-mg immediate-release and 10-mg delayed-release beads) developed for its anti-inflammatory properties is the only US Food and Drug Administration-approved oral medication for the disorder. This report describes the results of the Oracea for Rosacea: A Community-Based Assessment (ORCA) trial, a phase 4 trial of the 40-mg formulation as monotherapy in adults with mild to severe papulopustular rosacea. A total of 1197 participants were enrolled in the monotherapy arm of the 12-week open-label study at 271 community-based investigational sites. The primary outcome measure was a change in the 5-point investigator global assessment (IGA) score from baseline to end point (week 12). Secondary outcome measures included change in the 5-point clinician erythema assessment (CEA) score from baseline to end point, IGA success, and adverse events (AEs). The monotherapy per-protocol (PP) population was selected a priori as the primary analysis population and safety assessments were performed on all participants who received at least 1 dose of the study drug. In the PP population of 826 monotherapy participants who completed the trial, approximately 75% of participants with mild to severe rosacea at baseline were clear or near clear by week 12, according to IGA scores. Furthermore, approximately 75% of participants had CEA scores reflecting none or mild erythema after 12 weeks. In the safety population of 1196 participants, treatment-related AEs were reported in 6.7% of participants that were mainly mild or moderate in severity. Adverse events that occurred in more than 1% of the safety population included diarrhea (1.2%), nausea (1.3%), and headache (1.0%). The incidence of fungal and yeast infections was 0.4%. The results of the ORCA trial support the effectiveness and safety of the 40-mg formulation of doxycycline in patients with papulopustular rosacea.