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news.Biogen Idec's psoriasis treatment, Amevive, has shown promise in a phase II study, with preliminary results indicating that the treatment provides clinical improvement for patients with active psoriatic arthritis.
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In the study, 54% of patients who received Amevive (alefacept) for 12 weeks achieved an ACR 20 response (a standard measure of disease improvement), or at least a 20% improvement in the signs and symptoms of psoriatic arthritis, at 24 weeks.
“We’ve seen Amevive provide long lasting results to some of our psoriasis patients,” said Dr Alan Menter of Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. “Now we have evidence that Amevive may offer significant relief to patients with psoriatic arthritis – a condition that’s even more debilitating than psoriasis alone. This will certainly give us another option in treating these patients who have both skin and joint involvement.”
No serious infections or malignancies were reported in patients treated with Amevive in the study. The most common adverse events observed were increased liver enzyme levels, back pain and viral upper-respiratory infections, with a 2% incidence of serious adverse events.