New Calcipotriol/Betamethasone Dipropionate Foam Formulation for the Treatment of Psoriasis: An Overview

Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory, immune-mediated, potentially disfiguring and disabling skin disorder, affecting over 100 million individuals worldwide. Calcipotriol plus betamethasone fixed-combination (0.005% Cal/0.064% BD) is the recommended topical treatment for psoriasis. However, topical treatments are associated to lack of efficacy and low adhesion rates due to poor cosmetic characteristics’ formulations, and vehicle issues. To answer the need for improving patients’ acceptability and adherence, an innovative Cal/BD aerosol foam formulation was developed for the topical treatment of adults with plaque psoriasis. Phase II and III clinical trials have consistently shown that the two-compound formulation is more effective and safer than its individual ingredients in the same vehicle. Cal/BD aerosol foam formulation has proved higher efficacy in clinical studies, and a pooled analysis of the main clinical studies has demonstrated that this does not occur at the safety profile expense. Furthermore, Cal/BD aerosol foam has shown a significantly improved efficacy compared with more traditional formulations, such as ointments, gels, and lotions. The improved efficacy and safety profile of this new formulation, together with the once-daily treatment, a more acceptable tolerability profile, and an early and rapid response, offers improved convenience and better acceptance over the twice- -daily applications required for the respective monotherapies, which may improve adherence to treatment, leading to faster and greater improvements in HR-QoL, representing a useful therapeutic option to the management of patients with plaque psoriasis. Further clinical investigations to explore the possibility of Cal/BD aerosol foam treatment ability to provide long-term psoriasis’ management are required.