New Psoriasis Pill Appears Effective

In addition, because the effect of the drug correlates with its dose, it "can be titrated to suit patients response and tolerance without undue risk of adverse effects," Papp said.

One expert thinks the result of this trial needs to be duplicated in longer-term studies, and it needs to put in a head-to-head comparison with other psoriasis drugs.

"ISA247 may offer advantages compared with ciclosporin," said Dr. Luigi Naldi, from the Unit of Dermatology and GISED Study Centre at Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo, Italy, and author of an accompanying editorial. "However, its efficacy and safety profile needs to be further evaluated in the context of longer-term comparative studies."

Naldi noted that these trials need to be done in real-life situations. In addition, the trial done by Papp is too short to really tell whether or not the drug is safe, since most patients taking the drug would have to use it for a long time to control their psoriasis, he said.

"The risk of chronic kidney toxicity induced by calcineurin inhibitors increases with treatment duration and cannot be reliably predicted with short-term data," Naldi said." An obvious comparator in the ISA247 trial would have been ciclosporin. Without such an internal comparison, the claim that ISA247 is safer than ciclosporin should be viewed cautiously, because it is based on external comparisons," he said.

More information

For more on psoriasis, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

SOURCES: Kim Papp, M.D., Ph.D., Probity Medical Research, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; Luigi Naldi, M.D., Unit of Dermatology and GISED Study Centre, Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo, Italy; April 19, 2008,The Lancet