March 28th 2008 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
The high cost of biologics and other specialty drugs, and insurers’ efforts to rein in their costs, was the subject of a Wall St. Journal article the other day (paid registration may be required to view article), but the article only told part of the story.
Specialty drugs include biotech and other drugs for serious
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March 23rd 2008 | Patient Stories | 0 Comments
Sherry’s expanded profile is live on our calendar website, and it is worth a look. No, not to see a blond on a Harley–she’s married, gentlemen–but because her success story is grounded in persistence.
Over two decades, she tried virtually everything, like so many of us, and time and time again she had to look
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March 21st 2008 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
A new study confirming an association between psoriasis and diabetes has been released. The study looked at a large group of psoriasis patients and a large group of patients without psoriasis, and found “diabetes was significantly higher in psoriasis patients as compared to the control group….”
But the summary of the study (we have not
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March 19th 2008 | Health care system | 0 Comments
An article in the New York Times (free registration may be required) makes several note-worthy points. The article talks about how extremely difficult it is for medical students to be selected to study dermatology–difficult because so many very smart people want the same few training spots available. It turns out relatively humane hours,
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March 18th 2008 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
Centocor and Schering-Plough are seeking approval from European regulators “of golimumab (CNTO 148) as a monthly subcutaneous treatment for adults with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis.”
Golimumab, an anti-TNF-alpha monoclonal antibody, demonstrated strong efficacy in Phase Three clinical trials, improving both joint and skin symptoms for significant proportions of patients. For example, at
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March 18th 2008 | Biologics, Treatment | 0 Comments
Enbrel’s prescribing information will now have a black box warning to highlight the small but potentially serious risk of infections, including tuberculosis.
In U.S. and Canadian clinical trials, the rate of tuberculosis infection has been roughly 0.007% of patients, or about 1 in 14,000 cases; but in actual practice, rare cases of tuberculosis have
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March 17th 2008 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
Last year, hundreds of people from 32 states participated in Short Sleeve Day–educating the public about psoriasis while raising thousands of dollars for psoriasis research and education efforts. Public events were held in four cities; in other places, people simply wore the official Short Sleeve Day t-shirt or handed out our Psoriasis Info Cards to
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March 16th 2008 | Biologics, Psoriasis Research | 0 Comments
“Arana Therapeutics Limited (AAH) has commenced recruitment for a Phase II trial in psoriasis for its lead anti-TNF drug candidate ART621.” Other anti-TNF’s are already on the market, including Enbrel, Humira and Remicade. The psoriasis trial, to be conducted in Australia, is designed to help the company get the product approved one day
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March 7th 2008 | Treatment | 0 Comments
A small pilot study has found the XTRAC excimer laser effective in treating certain cases of moderate to severe psoriasis, the company reported this week. The laser uses targeted ultraviolet (UV) light to treat psoriasis patches, while leaving unaffected skin alone.
This report should not come as a surprise. UV light–whether from the sun,
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