A Pivotal Study on the Safety and Effectiveness of a Targeted Alkali Thermolysis Patch for Treatment of Primary Axillary Hyperhidrosis or Excessive Axillary Sweating

BACKGROUND: One-third of US adults are bothered by excessive sweating, approximately 5% are diagnosed with hyperhidrosis. A topical patch using targeted alkali thermolysis (TAT) was developed for treatment of this condition. OBJECTIVE: This study was intended to assess the efficacy and safety of the TAT-Patch for axillary sweat reduction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A randomized, multicenter, double-blind, sham-controlled, pivotal trial enrolled 120 subjects to a bilateral axillary treatment with a TAT patch (63 subjects) or sham patch (57 subjects). RESULTS: The primary end point was achieved; 64% of TAT-treated versus 44% of sham-treated subjects ( p = .0332) improved from Hyperhidrosis Disease Severity Scale (HDSS) 3/4 to HDDS 1/2 at 4 weeks. Targeted alkali thermolysis treatment also showed a statistically significant improvement over sham treatment for all secondary end points, including gravimetric sweat production and subject-reported quality-of-life (QoL) assessments. The duration of effect is approximately 3 months, determined by the time to return to baseline HDSS. Mild-to-moderate treatment-site adverse events (AEs) were reported in 22% of TAT patch subjects. No serious or severe AEs were reported. CONCLUSION: HDSS, GSP, and QoL findings confirm clinically meaningful sweat reduction and a significant improvement in quality of life following a single TAT patch treatment. This device has potential to offer a new, noninvasive treatment option that is well tolerated with minimal downtime.