Trifarotene
Trifarotene
The first new topical retinoid molecule in decades, and the only one trialled on the trunk as a formal endpoint. Its label publishes irritation at both 7.5% and 65%.
The marker is the strength the trials were actually run at. The bar is the span this register has recorded, approved and compounded together. Anything below the marker is a dose nobody has tested; anything above it is an assumption about a dose–response curve nobody has drawn.
The shaded band is the depth this molecule is understood to reach. Anything below it is out of scope, whatever the label says.
Mechanism
Selective agonist at RARγ, the dominant retinoic acid receptor in skin. Selectivity rather than concentration determines potency, which is why five thousandths of a per cent is not a mild dose.
HOUSE NOTES
- The same trials report application-site irritation in 7.5% of subjects when volunteered and erythema worse than baseline in 65.2% when investigators actively assessed it. Publishing both is rare and it calibrates every other adverse-reaction rate in this register.
- 0.005% is the lowest approved retinoid concentration and the most irritating one here. A low number across different molecules means nothing.
- In a one-year open-label trial, 2.9% of subjects discontinued for an adverse reaction and reaction frequency fell over time.
MEASURED ENDPOINTS
SUPPORTING RECORDS
Randomised, multicentre, parallel-group, vehicle-controlled
N=1212 · 12 WK · DOUBLE-BLIND
Investigator assessment at every visit against each subject's own baseline, pooled across both trials
N=2408 · 12 WK · DOUBLE-BLIND
Layering
- Pregnancy
- Other retinoids
- Sun exposure without protection
- Moisturiser
- Daily sunscreen