Halobetasol propionate/tazarotene lotion effective in psoriasis clearance

Long-term use of a combination halobetasol propionate and tazarotene lotion cleared psoriasis in patients with skin of color as well as white patients, according to a poster presentation at the Skin of Color Update virtual meeting.

“Non-white patients may be more severely affected by psoriasis than white patients, underscoring the need to examine topical therapies for psoriasis in this population,” Neal Bhatia, MD, and colleagues wrote. “The fixed-dose corticosteroid/retinoid combination halobetasol propionate (0.01%) and tazarotene (0.045%) lotion (HP/TAZ) is approved for topical treatment of plaque psoriasis in adults.”

The multicenter, phase 3, open-label, long-term study included 77 non-white patients and 473 white patients aged 18 years or older with psoriasis. Subjects had an Investigator Global Assessment score of 3 or 4 and body surface area (BSA) involvement between 3% and 12%.

Patients stopped treatment at week 8 if they achieved treatment success, defined by IGA of clear or almost clear (0 or 1). Those who did not reach success were treated for an additional 4 weeks. At week 12, those with at least a 1-grade improvement in IGA from baseline continued the study, where they received up to 24 weeks of treatment and were reevaluated monthly.

Treatment success was achieved in 33.3% of non-white and 40.3% of white subjects after 52 weeks with disease recurrence similar in the two groups.

“With 52-week HP/TAZ treatment, both non-white and white participants with psoriasis experienced high rates of skin clearance, and comparable proportions experienced similar times to disease recurrence and reduced body surface area involvement,” the authors wrote.