Dramatic New Treatment for Psoriasis

A new study demonstrates the therapeutic efficacy of CNTO 1275, an interleukin-12/23 monoclonal antibody, in the treatment of psoriasis.

Researchers from the University of Utah (Salt Lake City, USA) and other institutions conducted a phase II trial of CNTO 1275 involving 320 patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. The patients were randomized to placebo or one of four doses of CNTO 1275 administered subcutaneously: one injection of 50 mg; one injection of 100 mg; four weekly injections of 50 mg; or four weekly 100-mg injections. Each of the five groups had 64 subjects. CNTO 1275 subjects also received an additional dose at week 16 if they did not achieve an excellent or complete response.

The results of the study showed that 81% of patients receiving four weekly 90-mg doses of CNTO 1275 achieved at least 75% improvement in their psoriasis, as measured by the psoriasis area severity index (PASI 75). In addition, 52% achieved PASI 90, and 20% achieved total skin clearance (PASI 100). Also, of those who received just a single, 90 mg dose, 59% achieved PASI 75 and 16% achieved PASI 100--a standard of total clearance that many psoriasis patients have given up ever reaching. Serious adverse events (requiring hospitalization) were observed in 4% of patients receiving CNTO 1275, compared with 1% of patients receiving placebo. The study was published in the February 8, 2007, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

CNTO 1275 is being developed by Centocor (Horsham, PA, USA). The company is moving forward to phase III multicenter trial testing of CNTO 1275.

"Patients who receive this drug can expect a good response,” said lead investigator Gerald Krueger, M.D., a professor of dermatology at the University of Utah. "There appears to be a group of patients who are particularly responsive to it, and they are the patients who respond to one 50-mg injection, though we cannot know who these will be ahead of treatment.”

Interleukins 12 and 23 are two key cytokines known to be involved in type 1 immune responses that have been linked to the pathophysiology of psoriasis.


Related Links:
University of Utah
Centocor