Dapsone and EGFR inhibitors

Our department feels privileged to have another oncodermatology publication in the Australasian Journal of Dermatology titled: “Epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor‐induced papulopustular eruption successfully treated with low‐dose oral dapsone”.
Patients on EGFR inhibitors frequently develop cutaneous adverse events including papulopustular eruptions (also known as acneiform eruptions), hair loss and xerosis.
This is a paper about two cases of patients on EGFR inhibitors with severe papulopustular eruptions, resistant to oral prednisolone and oral doxycycline that were treated successfully with oral dapsone. Although dapsone is traditionally an antibiotic for leprosy, it also has anti-neutrophilic properties and has been used in various many neutrophilic skin conditions. The dapsone dose was initially very low at 25mg daily then escalated to 50mg daily.