Long-term management of plaque psoriasis with continuous efalizumab therapy

Abstract

A fter a long period with few significant therapeutic advances, the last decade has witnessed a notable increase in the number of therapies that are in development and that have been approved for patients with psoriasis. Although the effectiveness of many traditional systemic therapies was discovered serendipitously, advances in molecular research and technology have resulted in the development of a new class of psoriasis therapies. Biologic therapies are designed to specifically target discrete processes, cell types, or cytokines known to be important in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. With their targeted mechanisms of action, it is hoped that biologic therapies will provide patients who have psoriasis with effective and safer options. Biologic therapies have been studied rigorously in well-designed controlled trials treating significant numbers of patients with psoriasis. Furthermore, some of the biologics (eg, efalizumab) have longterm treatment data for a small subset of patients with psoriasis. The clinical trial experience leading to the relatively recent approval of 3 biologic therapies (alefacept, efalizumab, and etanercept) for psoriasis