Prospective study of Apremilast in cases of chronic plaque psoriasis

 

Alok Kumar Agarwal^1*, Padma², Shahana³, G Narasimha Rao Netha⁴

 

Abstract              Background: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease, which requires long-term, safe and effective treatment. Apremilast, an oral PDE4 inhibitor, works intracellularly to regulate inflammatory mediators. It was approved by the FDA in 2014 and by the EC in 2015 for the treatment of Chronic Plaque Psoriasis. Aims and Objectives: To evaluate therapeutic responses of Apremilast in cases of Chronic Plaque Psoriasis (CPP). Methods: We included 21 patients affected by chronic plaque psoriasis aged >18 years and were evaluated every 4 weeks, and we documented: age, family history of psoriasis, joint involvement, previous treatments, psoriasis area severity index (PASI) scores, and the onset and duration of adverse events(AE). Efficacy was analysed by PASI50, PASI75 and PASI90, reflecting the improvement of skin lesions compared to the PASI-baseline. Results: Twenty-one patients with chronic plaque psoriasis were included in the study. Twelve patients (57.14%) reached PASI 75 and three patients (14.28%) had reached PASI 50.A statistically significant improvement of PASI scores was observed relative to pretreatment measurements. Five patients (23.8%) reported at least one AE, most frequently diarrhoea (n = 3, 14.28%), headache (n = 2, 9.52%) and joint pain (n = 2, 9.52%). Conclusion: Apremilast is a safe and valuable therapeutic modality for patients with chronic plaque psoriasis.Up to 70% of the patients will reach PASI50 or better. These results, from a prospective study, confirm the efficacy and safety of apremilast.

Key Word: Apremilast.