Ustekinumab improves psoriatic arthritis, study says

The new biologic drug ustekinumab, which is expected to be approved later this year to treat psoriasis, significantly improves the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis, according to a study published in the Feb. 12, 2009, online issue of The Lancet medical journal.

The study showed that many of the 146 patients in this study with moderate to severe psoriatic arthritis had "significant and prolonged" improvement in their symptoms using ustekinumab.

Approval for treating psoriasis in the United States is pending with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a decision from the agency is due this year. Ustekinumab has not been proposed to treat psoriatic arthritis and further testing is needed to determine if it is appropriate for that use, wrote Dr. Alice Gottlieb of Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, Mass., one of the study's researchers.

"This is a very positive development for patients living with psoriatic arthritis," said Bruce Bebo Jr., director of research for the National Psoriasis Foundation. "More drugs that effectively treat this disabling disease are badly needed."

The phase II study occurred during a 36-week period. Patients were given one injection of ustekinumab each week for four weeks. At week 12, 42 percent of the patients showed significant improvement in their pain and stiffness. At the end of the study (week 36), 33 weeks after the last injection, nearly three-quarters of the participants showed improvements in their symptoms.

The study also noted that patients with plaque psoriasis showed improvement in their skin symptoms at week 12.

Ustekinumab is currently approved in Canada and Europe to treat moderate to severe psoriasis.