Studies Find Arthritis Drugs Work for Psoriasis

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Studies Find Arthritis Drugs Work for Psoriasis

Fri Feb 22, 3:19 PM ET

By Deena Beasley

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Biologic drugs used to treat rheumatoid

arthritis are also effective against psoriasis, an incurable disease

that leads to thick, scaly patches of skin, according to new research.

The drugs -- Immunex Corp.'s Enbrel and & 's Remicade --

are bioengineered antibodies designed to inactivate proteins linked to

inflammation. In clinical trials to be presented next week at a meeting

of the American Academy of Dermatology in New Orleans, both drugs

reduced symptoms of moderate to severe psoriasis in about half of

patients, Enbrel after being injected twice weekly for six months and

Remicade six months after three initial infusions.

" The results are socko (impressive), " said Dr. Alice Gottlieb, professor

of medicine at the Wood Medical School in New Brunswick,

New Jersey, and the presenter of the studies. " A 75 percent drop ...

means these people are wearing shorts and swimsuits and feeling good

about themselves. "

Psoriasis, a chronic disease affecting more than seven million

Americans, occurs when skin grows faster than normal and old skin is not

shed quickly enough, causing inflamed, swollen and scaly patches. Drugs

now most commonly used to treat psoriasis -- cyclosporine or

methotrexate, can lead to kidney or liver damage with repeated use.

Since psoriasis strikes many people when they are young adults, it is

seen as a lucrative market for biotech firms that could potentially sell

their drugs to patients for decades. Like rheumatoid arthritis,

psoriasis seems to be a disorder in which a person's immune cells attack

his own body.

A mid-stage trial of 112 patients, injected twice a week for six months

with either Enbrel or placebo, found that 56 percent of patients treated

with Enbrel had at least a 75 percent improvement in their psoriasis at

the six-month point compared with 5 percent of patients on placebo.

Thirty percent of Enbrel patients achieved the trial's primary goal of a

75 percent improvement at three months.

DRUGS BEING USED " OFF LABEL "

Enbrel was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( news

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) last month as the first treatment for psoriatic arthritis, a disease

that involves joints and skin.

Gottlieb said side effects seen most frequently in the Enbrel trial were

mild upper respiratory infections.

She noted that the Enbrel trial was not designed to look at how long the

disease remissions would last and additional studies of both drugs are

needed.

A 29-patient trial of & 's Remicade, which is given

intravenously, found that about half the psoriasis patients given three

infusions of the drug over six weeks maintained a 75 percent improvement

in symptoms six months after treatment.

The Remicade trial was an extension of an earlier study showing that 73

percent to 82 percent, depending on dose levels, of patients saw a 75

percent symptom improvement 10 weeks after they were given the three

infusions.

Immunex has said it plans to eventually file for U.S. Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) approval of Enbrel for treatment of psoriasis, but

the drug is already being used " off-label " for that purpose. " I have

already written 15 prescriptions for Enbrel for my psoriasis patients, "

Gottlieb said.

Several other companies are also developing biologic drugs for

psoriasis. Biogen Inc. filed last year for U.S. and European approval of

its experimental psoriasis drug, Amevive, which is designed to

selectively target a subset of T-cells. The drug can be given by

injection or intravenously.

Amevive induces long-lived remissions, but two sets of doses are needed

to get to a 50 percent response level, Gottlieb said.

Genentech Inc. has said it plans to file a marketing application with

the FDA this summer for Xanelim, an antibody designed to block certain

immune cells from entering and binding to skin tissue. Once Xanelim,

which is self-administered subcutaneously, is out of a patient's system,

relapse occurs, so patients would need " a once-a-week bolus pretty much

forever, " the researcher said.