Arthritis drug effective against psoriasis

A drug for Rheumatoid Arthritis can relieve the suffering of patients with moderate to severe psoriasis for a year, researchers said on Friday.

They found that infliximab, which is marketed under the name Remicade by Johnson & Johnson in the United States and by Schering-Plough Corp in other markets, improved symptoms of the chronic skin condition that affects 2 percent of the population in western countries.

"This is the first study to show that the very rapid and dramatic improvement that you see with psoriasis can, in the majority of patients, be maintained over at least the medium term - over the course of a year," said Professor Christopher Griffiths, of the University of Manchester in England.

Previous trials have only looked into the impact of the drug on psoriasis over a short period of about 12 weeks.

The study published in The Lancet medical journal also showed patients saw a significant improvement in one of the most disturbing features of psoriasis: nail disease.

Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic (long-term) inflammatory disease that primarily affects the joints and surrounding tissues, but can also affect other organ systems.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors

The cause of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is unknown. However, RA involves an attack on the body by its own immune cells (auto-immune disease). Different cases may have different causes. Infectious, genetic, and hormonal factors may play a role.

The disease can occur at any age, but it begins most often between the ages of 25 and 55. The disease is more common in older people. Women are affected more often than men. Approximately 1-2% of the total population is affected. The course and the severity of the illness can vary considerably.

"Up until now it has been extremely difficult to treat," said Griffiths.

He and his colleagues compared the effects of the intravenous treatment to a placebo, or dummy drug, on 378 patients with the illness.

Each patient was given three intravenous infusions of the drug or a placebo over six weeks and then every 8 weeks for nearly a year. After less than 3 months on the treatment, 80 percent of the patients showed at least a 75 percent improvement, compared to 3 percent in the placebo group.

By the end of the trial, the drug completely cleared the skin condition in a quarter of patients but no one in the placebo group had the same result.

"Some of the patients were improved to the extent that they had no psoriasis and there was no impairment of their quality of life. So this is the best result you could possibly aim for with a treatment for ," said Griffiths.