Is Apremilast a safe and effective alternative to use in patients presenting with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who qualify for phototherapy or biologics?
Background:
Plaque psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune condition that appears on the skin and presents as patches of thick, red, itchy, and scaly skin, particularly on the scalp, elbows, and knees.6,9 Psoriasis is a serious medical condition and affects approximately 7.5 million individuals.3 The current treatment regimen for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis consists of systemic agents, phototherapy, or biologic agents. Apremilast is the first oral drug to receive FDA approval (march 21, 2014), it is an oral phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor (PDE4) which works intracellularly to prevent the breakdown of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) which is important for cellular processes such as inflammation, and it prevents pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Apremilast inhibitors tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interferon-gamma, and interleukinds-12, 23 and others. It is important to determine if apremilast can be used as an alternative therapy for patients who are not responding to biologics or phototherapy, and those who …show more content…
In addition, the studys’ objective was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of apremilast for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. This is an important topic in pharmacy