Apollo's $15M eczema gamble pays off with promising phase 2 win

Apollo Therapeutics’ IL-18 antibody, camoteskimab, showed strong efficacy in a phase 2a trial for moderate to severe atopic dermatitis, validating its $15M acquisition from Avalo Therapeutics.

Why it matters: The results suggest a new treatment path for patients who don’t respond to current top therapies like Dupixent, expanding options in a market dominated by Th2-specific biologics.

Backstory: Apollo licensed camoteskimab in 2022, when it was in phase 1b for a rare arthritis. They saw broader potential in the crowded eczema space and pivoted to test it for atopic dermatitis.

Zoom in: Non-steroidal immunomodulation treatments for eczema often rely on the regulation of interleukin (IL) expression. Dupixent, a popular IL13 and IL4 modulator from 2017, does not work for all patients and so camotskimab was developed to regulate IL-18 to attack eczema from a different angle.

The trial: Apollo´s 62-patient trial for camoteskimab achieved an 80% average reduction in eczema severity scores during the open-label phase. This includes approximately 65% of patients who saw a 75% drop in symptoms from the baseline.

Big picture: These results position camoteskimab as a differentiated, next-gen biologic by targeting IL-18, a cytokine involved in multiple inflammatory pathways, potentially unlocking broader efficacy and expanding Apollo’s pipeline appeal.