A new study based on 10 years of experience using the biologic agent efalizumab (Raptiva) to treat chronic plaque psoriasis – a chronic form of the scaling disease that accounts for about 75 percent of psoriasis cases – reveals good news for people taking efalizumab. Psoriasis is safely treated long-term with this drug.
The study analyzed data from more than 40,000 patients who received the drug, with a cumulative clinical experience that corresponds to more than 28,000 patient-years of exposure. It included three and a half years of post-market data obtained from spontaneous reports, published literature, regulatory authorities, epidemiological databases, clinical trials and observational studies.
"We found that the data from continuous post-marketing surveillance confirm the favorable safety profile of efalizumab that was demonstrated in clinical trials," says Kim Papp, MD, director of Probity Medical Research Inc., in Waterloo, Canada, who presented the findings at the 5th European Association of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Spring Symposium. "Specifically, there was no increase in the reporting rate for infections (including tuberculosis) or malignancies, no reports of seizures or cases of multiple sclerosis, and no apparent increase in the risk of cardiovascular disorders."
"We believe our findings strengthen earlier evidence demonstrating a role for efalizumab as a suitable treatment for many patients with moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis," says Dr. Papp.
