By: Seth Hays for Wounds1For the 4.5 million American adults suffering from psoriasis, a new drug approved by the FDA in January will provide a combination of two existing treatments in one topical ointment. To be available in the U.S. this spring, a large international study shows Taclonex – known outside the U.S. as Dovobet or Daivobet – to be an effective treatment for plaque psoriasis, significantly reducing severity in most cases.
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Fast Facts from AAD’s affiliated psoriasis Web site:
Approximately 150,000 new cases of psoriasis are diagnosed each year in the U.S., an estimated 20 percent have moderate to severe psoriasis.
Psoriasis may be linked to ethnicity, being most common in Scandinavia and northern Europe, while less common in Africa, Asia and among Native Americans.
Some 75 percent of cases develop before age 40.
Psoriasis has a genetic component with about one-third of cases having a family member with the condition.
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This chronic, non-contagious skin condition is characterized by thick scaly lesions and can have severe physical and emotional impacts. Plaque psoriasis is the most common type, accounting for 80 percent of all people who develop the disease, according to the American Academy of Dermatologists.
Occurring almost equally between men and women, the causes for psoriasis are not very well understood by doctors, though progress is being made. Researchers now believe psoriasis develops in response to faulty signals in the immune system which, according the American Academy of Dermatologists, causes skin cells that normally mature in 28 to 30 days to do so in just 3 to 6 days leading to a pile up at the surface resulting in visible lesions.
Though no cure exists yet, many treatment options are available and Taclonex is unique in that it combines two topical treatments: A corticosteroid – the most frequently prescribed treatment – called betamethasone, and calcipotriene, a vitamin D analogue. In fact, the combination is significantly more effective than using either ointment alone and reported side effects are fewer than if each treatment was used separately due to the anti-inflammatory action of the betamethasone on calcipotriene’s side effects of irritation.
A 2005 double-blind four-week study of 1,534 patients administered once-daily treatments of Taclonex, was found to reduce psoriasis severity by 71.6 percent in the most extreme cases. Typically the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score is used to determine the level of severity, accounting for surface area affected as well as the quality of lesions. Mild and moderate psoriasis sufferers experienced 67.2 and 68.9 percent reduction in severity respectively.
Patients are not recommended to use the ointment on more than 30 percent of the body, and to avoid the face, underarms and groin. Also, application of calcipotriene for more than four-weeks has been related to hypercalcemia and should not be used by patients with known or suspected calcium metabolism disorders. Betamethasone, like other corticosteroids, has the potential to cause manifestations of Cushing's syndrome, hyperglycemia and glucosuria, as noted by the FDA. Both ingredients work by slowing the rapid growth of skin cells found in psoriasis.
