November 22nd 2010 | Psoriasis Videos, Public policy issues | 0 Comments
Jon Lovitz, the 1990s Saturday Night Live actor and “Yeah, that’s the ticket” guy, has been signed by Centocor Ortho Biotech to do a series of humorous videos about psoriasis. The tagline is “Are You Serious?” and the website is http://seriousaboutpsoriasis.com. Centocor Ortho Biotech markets Remicade for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis; Stelara for psoriasis;
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November 8th 2010 | Patient Stories, psoriatic arthritis | 4 Comments
In the not-very-surprising news department, Amgen & Pfizer, the companies that market Enbrel (etanercept), have signed up Phil Mickelson, the star golfer who announced last summer that he has psoriatic arthritis and is being treated with Enbrel. Mickelson will help the companies educate patients about psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and Enbrel.
November 1st 2010 | Psoriasis Research, Treatment, Triggers/environment | 2 Comments
A small study in Iceland found that tonsillectomy in those who tend to get psoriasis flares after strep throat infections produced reductions in psoriasis symptoms for most patients for the two-year duration of the study. As reported by Skin & Allergy News:
Tonsillectomy has beneficial clinical and immunologic effects on chronic plaque psoriasis in patients
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November 1st 2010 | Misc. | 0 Comments
Some injected methotrexate has been recalled. If you take methotrexate by injection, review this announcement from Sandoz to determine if your methotrexate is covered by this limited recall.
October 31st 2010 | Psoriasis Research | 1 Comment
Amgen, one of the companies behind the leading biologic for psoriasis, Enbrel (etanercept), has at least two experimental treatments under development for moderate to severe psoriasis. It recently reported results from a Phase One trial of AMG 827, and is also developing AMG 714. Each would offer a novel approach to psoriasis treatment.
It’s
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October 19th 2010 | Psoriasis Research | 0 Comments
Tasocitinib is an immune-suppressing medication being tested by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for psoriasis and other diseases. It is a new type of drug called a Janus Kinase (JAK) inhibitor, and it is at least a couple years away from reaching market (it might actually reach market for rheumatoid arthritis [RA] first).
In a mid-stage, Phase
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October 11th 2010 | Biologics, Psoriasis Research, Side-effects of treatment, Treatment | 10 Comments
[UPDATE 1/14/2011: Abbott today announced that it has withdrawn its application with the U.S. FDA to market briakinumab (ABT-874, Ozespa). Our full analysis of Abbott's pulling its briakinumab application is here. Our original, unedited post concerning the Phase Three trials is below.]
You know that buzz about Centocor Ortho Biotech’s biologic Stelara (ustekinumab),
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October 7th 2010 | Biologics, Psoriasis Research, Treatment | 0 Comments
New data on Stelara (ustekinumab) has been presented at a European scientific meeting, and it shows Stelara performing well for most patients in the clinical trial, even after 2 years and 10 months of use. The company’s press release is here.
Some background on the study the data came from: Patients who weighed less
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October 6th 2010 | Biologics, Health care system, Public policy issues, psoriatic arthritis | 0 Comments
In what may be a look at the future of the U.S. health care system, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in Britain has recommended denying psoriatic arthritis patients reimbursement for the biologic Simponi (golimumab) in the country’s government-run health care system.
NICE has generated great controversy in the United States, with President
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October 5th 2010 | Biologics, Health care system, Insurance, Public policy issues | 0 Comments
New York Governor David Patterson recently signed many new measures into law, including one that could benefit psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis patients being treated with biologics:
Among the bills signed by Governor Paterson is S.5000-B/A.8278-B, which will codify in law the currently regulatory authority of the State Insurance Department to disapprove requests from insurance carriers
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