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Title: The Future of Psoriasis Therapy?: Presented at AMA

"The Future of Psoriasis Therapy?: Presented at AMA"

By Bruce Sylvester NEW YORK -- June 11, 2003 -- Biologic treatments such as alefacept and etanercept can now help physicians to provide better treatment for patients with psoriasis, researchers reported at an American Medical Association media briefing held here on June 5th. "The biologic therapies have demonstrated few significant long-term side effects so far in clinical research," noted Kenneth Gordon, MD, an associate professor of dermatology, Loyola University Medical Center, in Maywood, Illinois. Dr. Gordon cited safety issues raised by the long-term cumulative side effects of standard systemic therapy with methotrexate and cyclosporine. Psoriasis is generally treated in steps, based on the severity of disease, beginning with topical treatment, followed by phototherapy and then systemic treatment. The affected areas of skin may become unresponsive to treatment, however, with the long-term use of systemic therapy. Unlike systemic methotrexate and cyclosporine, the biologic agents alefacept (FDA-approved for psoriasis) and etanercept (FDA-approved for psoriatic arthritis and undergoing clinical trials for psoriasis) target specific parts of the immune system to treat the disease. Alefacept treats psoriasis-related inflammation through a specific immune-blocking action, which does not inhibit the rest of the immune system and its infection-fighting powers. Etanercept, a tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) blocker, may be an effective monotherapy for chronic plaque psoriasis, according to the latest major clinical study presented on March 10, 2003 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology in Denver. At that presentation, lead investigator Anjuli Nayak, MD, a professor of paediatric allergy and immunology at University of Illinois and Peoria School of Medicine, in Peoria, Illinois, and her colleagues, found that 30% of the patients in their study group had at least a 75% improvement in their psoriatic lesions at 12 weeks. At 24 weeks, more than half of patients had this level of improvement. Dr. Gordon said that many people simply cannot tolerate the long-term side effects of older treatments, and just abandon them. He noted the widespread and inadequate treatment of psoriasis in up to one million U.S. patients per year. "These new biological agents are the future for the next decade and beyond," Dr. Gordon concluded.

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