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Xeljanz improved pruritus, QoL up to 1 year in patients with psoriasis
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Patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis who were treated with Xeljanz saw improvements in health-related quality of life over 52 weeks, with rapid improvement in pruritus, according to research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
“Plaque psoriasis is a chronic disease therefore providing long-term improvement in [health-related quality of life] is a key goal of therapy,” Steven R. Feldman, MD, PhD, of Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and colleagues wrote.
Feldman and colleagues conducted two identical, phase 3 studies of 901 patients and 960 patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis who were randomly assigned to 5 mg Xeljanz (tofacitinib, Pfizer), 10 mg tofacitinib or placebo twice weekly.
Patients treated with placebo were re-randomized to tofacitinib treatment at week 16.
Substantial health-related quality of life impairments were indicated at baseline though the Baseline Dermatology Life Quality Index score.
A higher number of patients in both tofacitinib groups reached a Dermatology Life Quality Index score of 1 or less, indicating no effect on health-related quality of life, compared with patients in the placebo group (P <. 001). Improvements continued through 1 year.
A moderately high level of pruritus was reported at baseline, with means Itch Severity Item scores ranging from 5.4 to 5.7. Patients treated with tofacitinib reported improvements as early as day 2 of treatment, according to daily diary records, compared with placebo (P < .05).
A greater proportion of patients treated with tofacitininb 5 mg or 10 mg twice weekly reported being satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the study medication compared with the patients that received placebo (P < .001), with more patients being satisfied with the 10-mg treatment compared with the 5-mg treatment (P = .004).
“Overall, tofacitinib 5 and 10 mg [twice daily] consistently resulted in [health-related quality of life] improvements across several [patient-reported outcomes] that were sustained up to 1 year,” the researchers concluded. “Improvements in pruritus were particularly rapid.” – by Bruce Thiel
Disclosure: Feldman reports participating in advisory boards for AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Merck, Novartis and Pfizer, and serving as a consultant for AbbVie, Amgen and Celgene, Eli Lilly, Galderma, Mylan, Norvartis and Pfizer, and serving on the speaker’s bureau of Celgene, Janssen and Novartis. Please see the full study for other researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.
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