In a blinded, multicenter study, 46% of patients who received the drug twice a week had cleared or almost cleared their skin manifestations of psoriasis at week 12, compared with 32% of those who received the drug only once each week (P<0.001), according to Wolfram Sterry, MD, of Charite University Medicine in Berlin, and colleagues.
In contrast, there were no differences in response for arthritis symptoms, with 77% of those in the twice-weekly group and 76% of those in the once-weekly group meeting predetermined psoriatic arthritis response criteria at week 12, the researchers reported online in the BMJ.
An estimated 30% of patients with psoriasis have an arthritic component to their disease, manifesting as chronic inflammation of the joints and entheses.
"The challenge of treating patients with both active psoriasis and active psoriatic arthritis is to optimize the treatment of both disease manifestations to give the best overall outcome," the investigators wrote.
Etanercept, a fully human tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor, is approved for use in both conditions based on findings showing that TNF and other cytokines are upregulated in both inflamed joint and skin tissues.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Rheumatology/Arthritis/18309