Etanercept and psoriasis, from clinical studies to real life

Objective To determine whether etanercept therapy enables long-term psoriasis patients to discontinue systemic psoriatic therapy. Methods Charts from psoriatic patients on etanercept therapy seen at the Department of Dermatology and Dermatolgic Surgery, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA, between June 2002 and October 2003, were evaluated retrospectively. The duration of disease, adverse events to "standard" systemic psoriatic therapy, and current therapy were reviewed. IRB: 03/582C. Results A large proportion of patients (73.5%) were able to decrease or discontinue their traditional systemic agent while on etanercept. Conclusions Etanercept is a safe and effective therapy in chronic moderate to severe psoriasis. In patients who are receiving systemic therapy for their disease and alternative therapy is warranted, etanercept can be added with the aim to discontinue the other systemic agents.