P099 : An identification of potential therapeutics for vitiligo by mass screening for 1732 medicines in Korean national health insurance database

Background: Since the development of new drugs is an extremely lengthy and costly process, the drug repositioning could be used as an alternative strategy for an identification of novel indications of in-market drugs for vitiligo. Objectives: To identify potential therapeutics for vitiligo by systematic mass screening and validation of the candidates Methods: This nationwide population-based study was conducted using data from the Korean national health insurance database. In the screening phase, sequential case-control studies including 58072 patients with vitiligo and 58072 age- and sex-matched controls were conducted to identify potential therapeutic candidates among 1732 medications. In the validation phase, the incidence of vitiligo was investigated by each drug user and non-user cohorts with a 12-year longitudinal observation. Results: In the screening phase, a total of 23 medicinces were identified with a lower prevalence of its use in patients with vitiligo compared to the controls without vitiligo. In the validation phase, the use of metformin (hazard ratio [HR], 0.799; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.671-0.951) and glimepiride (HR, 0.807; 95% CI, 0.676-0.965) had a lower risk of incident vitiligo. Conclusion: A potential protective effect of metformin for vitiligo was suggested from a mass screening approach. Controlled trials should be needed to confirm our findings.