It’s a new era for patients covered in the itchy, scaly skin disease psoriasis. After years with few good treatments, doctors finally have a handful of therapies that promise to help control the incurable condition with fewer bad side effects.
What changed? Scientists learned that psoriasis isn’t just a skin-deep disorder but a dysfunction of the immune system, so the new therapies target the real culprit.
“Five to six years ago, I was telling my patients it was the wasteland,” says Dr. Craig Leonardi of St. Louis University Medical School, who participated in studies of the new treatments. “Now there’s this huge explosion of amazing drugs coming forward.
The new options don’t help everyone, cautions Dr. Michael Tharp, dermatology chief at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center. And they’re very expensive, costing $10,000 a year or more.
But, “it’s a great first step,” Tharp says. “Now we’ve got very directed molecules and know where they work and how they work. ... I hope it is just the beginning.”
Two unique psoriasis shots, Amevive and Raptiva, recently won Food and Drug Administration approval. Two drugs already sold to treat other conditions — Enbrel and Remicade — are used against psoriasis, too. A list of other potential treatments is under study.
