Medical Device Daily

Scientists who led large clinical trials for Obagi Medical Products (Long Beach, California) skin care products presented the results of those studies in poster sessions at the annual American Academy of Dermatology (AAD; Schaumberg, Illinois) conference in New Orleans, marking the first time the company has proven clinical efficacy for its products on a large scale.

The AAD conference began Friday and continued thro-ugh yesterday.

Cyndi Lindeman, vice president of marketing and brand management, told Medical Device Daily that Obagi “has been the leader in innovation with our NuDerm System, which is patented and available only with a prescription. Nu-Derm, which has been available since the company's founding in 1986, is a system of skin care products that contain drugs approved by the FDA as safe.

The products are “designed to work at the cellular level to help transform skin, and the key to the transformation is to look and feel younger and healthier,“ Lindeman said. The products are offered in dermatologists' and plastic surgeons' offices for at-home use.

“Most physicians would agree, while it is important for consumers to come in and take care of their skin with a physician on a regular basis, what they do at home and their homecare routine 365 days of the year is really the critical point,“ Lindeman said.

The first of the two studies highlighted the results of a 24-week, 301-patient study of the Nu-Derm System. That study compared a regimen of the Nu-Derm System with regimens using Retin-A, or tretinoin, a regimen with hydroquinone, which is a bleaching agent, as well as the over-the-counter regimen most prescribed by dermatologists.

Lindeman noted that the study was “a very large base study,“ but she also said that the company felt like it was “necessary to prove the clinical efficacy.“

A summary of the study indicated that the Nu-Derm System is two times more effective at removing fine lines and wrinkles than retin-a. The system was three times more effective than hydroquinone at reducing hyperpigmentation, which is freckles and age spots. The system was found to be five to 10 times more effective than top physician recommend OTC regimens, which include a particular cleanser and Neutrogena moisturizer with SPF 30 sunscreen.

With the Nu-Derm System, Lindeman said there is “a specific protocol for each skin type,“ but generally, there are six products in the system. That system includes products for four stages of skin treatment: preparation, correction phase (to correct any pigmentation problems), stimulation phase and sun-screen, which for those with freckles also may include skin lightening ingredients. Used separately — and only at night — is tretenoin or retin-a, which is “a vitamin A based product.“

Depending on an individual patient's needs, a physician may prescribe a specific regimen of that six-product system, she said. The system is for all skin types.

In addition to the Nu-Derm System, the company has developed a new skin care product system called the Obagi-C Rx System for younger skins, or those with less photodamage, or damage from the sun. Lindeman said that product line was developed as a result of the “growing trend of people really wanting to take care of their skin [at] younger and younger [ages].“

In the second study Obagi sponsored, the results using photoluminescence, or spectrofluorescence, of tryptophan levels in the skin “indicated a noticeable treatment effect in photodamaged skin“ with use of both the Obagi Nu-Derm System and the Obagi—C Rx System, the company said.