Psoriatic Arthritis: New Drug Shows Promise In Reducing the Symptoms

New drug shows promise in reducing the symptoms such as swelling and joint tenderness in psoriatic arthritis.

Highlights:

Psoriatic arthritis causes painful inflammation around the joints.
Scientists have found a new drug that shows promise in reducing the symptoms such as swelling and joint tenderness.
Ixekizumab drug could help when the patients fail in treatment or have not yet been treated with other biologic drugs that are used.

Psoriatic arthritis is a type of arthritis that could occur in patients with psoriasis. The patients were found to show a significant reduction in symptoms like swelling and joint tenderness while using a new drug, finds a phase 3 clinical trial from Stanford University Medical Center.

Clinical Trials - SPIRIT-P2
The 24-week placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted at 109 centers in 10 countries. This could involve more than 300 adults who had lost their efficacy to drugs. The trial was sponsored by the drug manufacturer Eli Lilly.

Psoriatic Arthritis - Types, Causes, Risk Factors, Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention & Management
Psoriatic arthritis is a kind of autoimmune inflammatory arthritis, which develops in 30 percent of people with the skin condition of psoriasis.

‘New drug promises to reduce the symptoms such as swelling and joint tenderness in psoriatic arthritis.’

The study results were published in the journal The Lancet.

Mark Genovese, MD, Standford professor of Immunology and Rheumatology, said that psoriatic arthritis could progress to induce severe joint and bone damage and functional disability when the treatment for the condition remains unsuccessful.

Around 314 patients were found to receive regular injections of either a biologic drug ixekizumab or placebo for 24 weeks.

Psoriasis - Treatment
Treatment for psoriasis is available in plenty but the disease continues to be a challenge. Therapeutic spas grow Doctor Fish , which feed on the patients’ excess skin

Study Findings
The findings of the study revealed that:

Around 50% of the patients were found to have at least a 20% reduction in the symptoms like swollen joints and tenderness.

Drugs for Psoriasis
View list of generic and brand names of drugs used for treatment of Psoriasis(Skin Disease - Psoriasis ). Find more information including dose, side effects of the Psoriasis(Skin Disease - Psoriasis ) medicine.

Only a few serious adverse effects were reported for patients receiving the drug or the placebo.

Around 19.5 % of patients who received only placebo were found to meet the clinical endpoint in the trial.

Quiz on Arthritis
Do you know that there are more than 100 types of arthritis? If you think that only old people suffer from arthritis, take this intriguing quiz to get your facts on arthritis.

The response rate for those receiving the drugs every four weeks was 53.3% while those who received the drug for every two weeks did not show any betterment and also showed side effects such as a mild reaction at the injection site.

Psoriatic Arthritis
Psoriatic arthritis in developed countries could be about one in 200 adults. Psoriatic arthritis is an inflammatory autoimmune disease that affects people between the age of 30 and 50. Around 30% of patients with psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis.

Adalimumab, Etanercept and Infliximab are some of the common drugs that are prescribed for treating psoriatic arthritis.

The drugs mainly act by blocking the tumor necrosis factor(TNF) and therefore belong to a class called TNF inhibitors. TNF secreted by the immune cells could stimulate the immune response and the accompanying inflammation.

Ixekizumab Drug
Ixekizumab drug mainly acts by blocking IL-17. The drug is an injectable monoclonal antibody that is used for the treatment of psoriasis.

It is found to be effective in treating psoriatic arthritis where the patients had not yet been treated with biological drugs such as TNF inhibitors.

References

Prof Peter Nash, Prof Bruce Kirkham, MD, Masato Okada, MD, Prof Proton Rahman, MD, Prof Benard Combe, MD, Prof Gerd-Ruediger Burmester, MD, David H Adams, PhD,Lisa Kerr, MSPH,Chin Lee, MD, Catherine L Shuler, MS, Prof Mark Genovese, MD et.al " Ixekizumab for the treatment of patients with active psoriatic arthritis and an inadequate response to tumour necrosis factor inhibitors: results from the 24-week randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled period of the SPIRIT-P2 phase 3 trial," The Lancet, (2017); http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31429-0
Psoriatic arthritis - (http://www.arthritisresearchuk.org/arthritis-information/conditions/psoriatic-arthritis.aspx)

Source-Medindia