A New Drug 'Ixekizumab' Clears Psoriasis For The First Time

In long-term clinical trials that were led by researchers from Northwestern Medicine, about 80 percent of patients with moderate to acute psoriasis were completely cleared of the said disease because of the new drug called ixekizumab.

The studies were printed in the New England Journal of Medicine. They were led by Dr. Kenneth Gordon, a professor of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the first author of the study and other scholars,according to Science Daily.

Live in #london and have #psoriasis? Come speak to experts on 24th June @GSTTnhs pic.twitter.com/NB65YppK6O

— PsoriasisShoutOut (@PsoShoutOut) June 15, 2016

Dr. Gordon explained that this group of studies not only shows very high and consistent levels of safety and efficacy, yet also that the great majority of the responses persist at least 60 weeks. The new drug works by defusing a pathway in the immune system to promote psoriasis.

The three studies involved 3,736 adult patients at over 100 study sites in 21 countries. They all had moderate to severe psoriasis. The disease covered about 10 percent or more of their bodies. The participants received injection of ixekizumab at various doses or a placebo for a period of more than a year. The results showed that by the 12th week, 76.4 to 81.8 percent of patient has their psoriasis cleared or minimal compared to 3.2 percent of patients on the placebo. By the time they reached the 60th week, 68.7 to 78.3 percent of patients had maintained their improvement.

Anyone can get psoriasis. Retweet to empower people living with psoriasis. #Psoriasis #skin #HealthySkin pic.twitter.com/deUY646tBF — LEO Pharma Canada (@LEOPharmaCA) June 6, 2016

Psoriasis is an autoimmune-mediated inflammatory disease that is characterized by patches of abnormal skin. Typically, the patches are itchy, scaly and red. It is linked with heart disease, diabetes and depression, among other conditions.

The said disease has no cure at the moment but the symptoms could be controlled. These include immune system suppressing medications, vitamin D3 cream, steroid creams and ultraviolet light.