Off-Label studies on anakinra in dermatology: a review.

Purpose: Anakinra (Kineret) is an interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) FDA approved for use in rheumatoid arthritis and in neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease (NOMID). It has been used off-label for a variety of dermatologic conditions. A review of the available studies and cases of these off-label uses would be valuable to the dermatologist considering alternative treatments for these oftentimes poorly studied conditions.

Materials And Methods: The PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases were searched with the term 'anakinra.' Results were manually screened to identify published data on off-label uses of anakinra in dermatologic conditions and systemic conditions with prominent dermatologic manifestations.

Results: Anakinra appears to show efficacy for numerous dermatologic conditions, with the strongest evidence for hidradenitis suppurativa, Bechet's disease, Muckle-Wells syndrome, and SAPHO syndrome. Case reports and case series data are available for numerous other dermatologic conditions.

Conclusion: Anakinra is a potential option for patients with certain difficult-to-treat dermatologic diseases, given its relatively benign adverse effect profile and its effectiveness in a wide array of conditions. Overall, anakinra appears to be a promising option in the treatment of numerous dermatologic inflammatory conditions refractory to first line therapies, but further and higher-quality data is needed to clarify its therapeutic role.