Update on biotech drugs for psoriasis

Earlier on in the year, encouraging data for several new biotech agents for psoriasis were reported at the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) meeting.* Updated clinical results have now been presented for two of the most promising of these drugs, efalizumab ['Xanelim'] and alefacept ['Amevive'], at the 2nd Joint Meeting of the International Psoriasis Symposium and the European Congress on Psoriasis [San Francisco, US; June 2001], showing that both are very effective in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis. The two agents are in hot competition with each other to reach the psoriasis market, with registration proceedings expected within the next year. In addition, phase II data show that the antisense drug ISIS 2302 reduces the thickness of psoriatic plaques and phase I/II data reveal that the monoclonal antibody MEDI-507 is effective and well tolerated in patients with psoriasis.