SAN FRANCISCO, March 9 -- Patients with psoriasis and concomitant psoriatic arthritis got relief from both conditions when treated with the monoclonal antibody adalimumab (Humira), according to pooled data from three large clinical trials.
The antibody, which targets tumor necrosis factor (TNF), reduced psoriatic arthritis-related adverse events by about 75% and was associated with a sixfold improvement in pain compared with placebo, Philip Mease, M.D., of the University of Washington in Seattle, reported at the American Academy of Dermatology meeting.
Consistent with data from studies of other anti-TNF therapies, the results suggest that a single therapy can provide relief from both conditions when they coexist.
"Dermatologists should be looking for evidence of psoriatic arthritis in their psoriasis patients because it occurs commonly," said Dr. Mease.
"Additionally," he said, "this study supports the observations that we have already made in pure psoriatic arthritis trials that the anti-TNF therapies significantly reduce psoriatic arthritis clinical symptoms and signs."
The findings came from a pooled analysis of data from three placebo-controlled clinical trials of adalimumab in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis. About a quarter of the patients had concomitant psoriatic arthritis.
The primary outcome measures were adverse events related to psoriatic arthritis and patient-rated pain associated with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis at 16 weeks.
Psoriatic arthritis-related adverse events were defined as patient-reported signs and symptoms consistent with "psoriatic arthropathy."
Collectively, the three trials included 413 patients with a history of psoriatic arthritis, 274 of whom were assigned to adalimumab.
The frequency of psoriatic arthritis adverse events was 4.3% in placebo-treated patients compared with 1.1% in the adalimumab group (P=0.025).
Adalimumab treatment was associated with an average reduction of 31.3 units on the 100-unit pain scale compared with 5.6 units among placebo-treated patients (P<0.001).