New medication improved skin condition, lessened swelling, study finds
WebMD News from HealthDay
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, June 11, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- A new drug called brodalumab appears to be effective in treating patients suffering from psoriatic arthritis, a study says.
Patients who responded to brodalumab had a significant improvement in their skin and reduction in the swelling of the fingers and toes, a condition called dactylitis that is common in psoriatic arthritis, according to the study's lead researcher, Dr. Philip Mease, a rheumatologist at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle.
'We have a medication with a different mechanism of action than currently available drugs, increasing our chances to control this disease, which can be disabling and significantly affects patients' function and quality of life,' said Mease.
'We know that many patients will lose response to some medications or develop adverse effects, so there is a need for medicines that work differently,' he said. 'We have a chance to bring patients back closer toward their normal state of being.'
The study was funded by Amgen, the maker of brodalumab. Results of the study were published June 12 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study's findings were also scheduled to be presented on Thursday at the European Congress of Rheumatology's annual meeting in Paris.
Psoriatic arthritis is a type of arthritic inflammation that affects as many as 30 percent of people who have psoriasis, according to background information in the study.
Psoriasis causes scaly red and white patches on the skin, according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). In psoriatic arthritis, the immune system attacks the joints as well, causing inflammation. Persistent inflammation from psoriatic arthritis can lead to joint damage, according to the ACR.
Like psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis symptoms come and go, vary from person to person, and even change locations over time.
Psoriatic arthritis may affect one joint or several. For example, it may affect one or both knees. Affected fingers and toes can become swollen. Fingernails and toenails also may be affected.
Mease noted that psoriatic arthritis has a genetic component that makes it distinct from other types of arthritis.
'There are also certain genes that are present in people who develop the arthritis that are not present in people with psoriasis. So there seems to be a heavy genetic component for determining who gets psoriasis and goes on to get psoriatic arthritis,' he said.
Current treatment for psoriatic arthritis depends on how much pain the patient has. Treatment usually starts with painkillers such as ibuprofen (Motrin or Advil) or naproxen (Aleve).
Mease noted that many patients are also given methotrexate ( Trexall), which treats both arthritis and psoriasis. Other drugs, known as biologic therapy, that are also used to treat both conditions include adalimumab (Humira), etanercept ( Enbrel), golimumab (Simponi) and infliximab ( Remicade).
