Positive phase III data demonstrated that Humira was statistically superior to methotrexate in patients with psoriasis. Patients with moderate to severe psoriasis receiving Abbott’s Humira achieved at least 75% improvement in disease, compared to patients receiving methotrexate where it was an improvement of 36%.
This is the first psoriasis study to feature a head-to-head comparison between a biologic agent and a standard systemic treatment.
“The results of this study strongly suggest the potential Humira may have as a new treatment for psoriasis,” said the study’s primary investigator, Professor Jean-Hilaire Saurat, chairman of the department of dermatology, University of Geneva in Switzerland.
Psoriasis is a chronic, non-contagious autoimmune skin disease characterized by very dry, scaly and cracked skin, skin pain, and patches of red, raised skin known as “plaques”. There is currently no cure for the disease, which affects an estimated 125 million people worldwide.