"Dermira Inc said its experimental topical therapy for excessive underarm sweating was successful in two latestage studies bringing it one step closer to providing an easytouse therapy for the often embarrassing condition.  While the function of sweating is to prevent overheating those affected sweat even when the body does not need cooling.  Existing therapies for excessive underarm sweating also called axillary hyperhidrosis offer limited effectiveness and can be expensive.  The first line of defense are antiperspirants. Next patients can try costlier alternatives such as botox injections a device called miraDry that delivers electromagnetic energy to decompose sweat glands or laser therapy to destroy them.  Sufferers can also opt for localized surgery like liposuction to remove or injure sweat glands. Oral medicines can be used to systemically limit sweating. For instance a class of drugs called anticholinergics are commonly used offlabel for this purpose but they are linked with the risk of dementia.  Based on the most recent estimates about . million Americans have some form of excessive sweating including palms feet underarms or head and about half of this population suffer from the underarm form said Dermira spokeswoman Erica Jefferson in an interview ahead of the data readout.  The Menlo Park Californiabased companys shares were up  percent at . in extended trading on Wednesday.  About twothirds of the total  enrolled in the two trials for the companys topical treatment DRM were treated with wipes containing DRM while the rest were not.  In the first trial a significant improvement in the severity of sweating was seen in . percent of the patients treated with the drug compared with . percent patients in the control group on a scale designed by the company.  In the second trial a significant improvement was seen in . percent of the drugtreated patients compared with . percent in the control group.  Dermira said it had expected to apply for marketing approval for the drug in the second half of  subject to completion of the drugs longterm safety trial.  Reporting by Natalie Grover and Shailesh Kuber in Bengaluru Editing by Maju Samuel Our StandardsThe Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. httpthomsonreuters.comenaboutustrustprinciples.html"