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Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is an inflammatory skin disorder that causes excruciatingly painful skin ulcerations. It’s supposed to be rare, but it’s only rarely diagnosed. At any given time, I will have 8 or 10 patients with PG in my practice. Biopsies fail to diagnose it more than 70% of the time, but the patients all have a history of “pathergy,” dramatic worsening after minor trauma.

If you or any of your patients have been diagnosed with Pyoderma Gangrenosum (PG)- there’s hope. Dr. Alex Ortega at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon is conducting a clinical research trial to determine the safety and efficacy of Baricitinib (Olumiant) combined with a prednisone taper for the treatment of PG.

Baricitinib suppresses a pathway of proteins that have been shown to be overabundant in PG lesions, and that play a large role in the chronic inflammation that drives PG. Baricitinib has already been approved by the FDA to treat rheumatoid arthritis, a common condition among patients with PG, which shares many similarities to the inflammatory profile of PG. Several studies are testing Baricitinib’s effectiveness in other chronic skin conditions, but this is the first and only trial testing Baricitinib in PG.

For more information, and to see if you or one of your patient’s will qualify, please contact Morgan Vague at [email protected].

Get this! Patients are reimbursed between $75-175 per visit. Travel reimbursement of up to $650 per visit is available for patients who live outside of Oregon or >200 miles from Oregon Health and Science University.

Here’s the patient recruitment flyer. Pass it on!

8.26.2022_PG-recruitment-flyer_patient

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