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Apremilast showed clinically meaningful improvements for PsA treatment
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Patients who took twice daily apremilast for treatment of psoriatic arthritis showed clinical improvement at 16 weeks and had sustained improvement with continued treatments through 52 weeks compared with a placebo group, according to recently published research.
“These findings remain important, as a need remains for long-term treatment options for patients with [psoriatic arthritis] PsA, including those with active psoriasis skin lesions,” Christopher J. Edwards, BSc, MBBS, MD, FRCP, from the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust and Southampton General Hospital in Southampton, United Kingdom, and colleagues wrote in their study.
Edwards and colleagues randomized 505 patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in the PALACE 3 study to receive either apremilast 30 mg twice daily, apremilast 20 mg twice daily or placebo and followed their treatment for 52 weeks, according to the abstract. Patients in the placebo group received rescue therapy at 16 weeks if they did not show 20% improvement in symptoms, and all remaining placebo patients were randomized to the two apremilast groups at 24 weeks.
Christopher J. Edwards
The researchers found that compared to the placebo group, there were significantly more patients in the apremilast 20-mg and apremilast 30-mg twice daily groups that showed an ACR 20 response (18% vs. 28% and 41%, respectively), according to the abstract. The mean health assessment questionnaire-disability index score was also significantly greater in the apremilast 30-mg group compared with patients in the placebo group (−0.20 vs. −0.07).
When examining patients who achieved 50% reduction from baseline psoriasis area and severity index scores, 41% of patients in the apremilast 30-mg group achieved that reduction at 16 weeks compared with 24% of patients in the placebo group. Edwards and colleagues noted these improvements under apremilast continued and were sustained at 52 weeks in all groups with mostly mild and moderate adverse events, such as nausea, headache, upper respiratory infection and diarrhea, according to the abstract. – by Jeff Craven
Disclosures: Edwards reports grants from Celgene, Pfizer, Roche and Samsung and is on the speakers bureau for Abbott, Glaxo-SmithKline, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen, Novo Nordisk, UCB and Roche. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
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