Arthritis drug effective against psoriasis -study

By Patricia Reaney

LONDON (Reuters) – A drug for rheumatoid arthritis can
relieve the suffering of patients with moderate to severe
psoriasis for a year, researchers said on Friday.

They found that infliximab, which is marketed under the
name Remicade by Johnson & Johnson in the United States and by
Schering-Plough Corp in other markets, improved symptoms of the
chronic skin condition that affects 2 percent of the population
in western countries.

“This is the first study to show that the very rapid and
dramatic improvement that you see with psoriasis can, in the
majority of patients, be maintained over at least the medium
term — over the course of a year,” said Professor Christopher
Griffiths, of the University of Manchester in England.

Previous trials have only looked into the impact of the
drug on psoriasis over a short period of about 12 weeks.

The study published in The Lancet medical journal also
showed patients saw a significant improvement in one of the
most disturbing features of psoriasis: nail disease.

“Up until now it has been extremely difficult to treat,”
Griffiths told Reuters.

He and his colleagues compared the effects of the
intravenous treatment to a placebo, or dummy drug, on 378
patients with the illness.

Each patient was given three intravenous infusions of the
drug or a placebo over six weeks and then every 8 weeks for
nearly a year. After less than 3 months on the treatment, 80
percent of the patients showed at least a 75 percent
improvement, compared to 3 percent in the placebo group.

By the end of the trial, the drug completely cleared the
skin condition in a quarter of patients but no one in the
placebo group had the same result.

“Some of the patients were improved to the extent that they
had no psoriasis and there was no impairment of their quality
of life. So this is the best result you could possibly aim for
with a treatment for psoriasis,” said Griffiths.

“Compared with the other available treatments, it does work
extremely effectively and extremely quickly.”

The scientists said none of the patients given the drug had
any serious side effects. But they stressed that the treatment
is not a cure. It is likely patients would have to be on a
long-term maintenance program.

Psoriasis, an immune mediated disease, can develop at any
age but it occurs most commonly before the age of 40. Psoriasis
patches can also show up on the fingernails and toenails. About
15 percent of patients also suffer from arthritis linked to the
condition.

European regulators recently approved infliximab for the
treatment of psoriasis but the drug has not yet been approved
for the skin condition in the United States.

The drug is also used as a treatment for Crohn’s disease,
an inflammatory bowel condition.