A new drug designed to treat adults with a moderate to severe skin disease called plaque psoriasis was approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disorder that causes patches of skin redness and irritation. The skin disease is most common in patients between the ages of 15 and 35 who have a family history of the disease.
There is no treatment for psoriasis, but the FDA believes this newly approved drug, Cosentyx (secukinumab), will finally provide patients with a treatment for the uncomfortable skin condition, according to an FDA issued news release.
Cosentyx is injected under the skin and its active ingredient, the antibody secukinumab, binds to a protein (interleukin (IL)-17A) which is involved in inflammation. This binding process prevents the protein from attaching to its receptor, and inhibits its ability to trigger the inflammatory response that plays a role in the development of plaque psoriasis.
Candidates for Cosentyx must be approved to receive systemic therapy (treatment using substances that travel through the bloodstream, after being taken by mouth or injected), phototherapy (ultraviolet light treatment) or a combination of both, according to the release.
The drug was tested in four clinical trials with a total of 2,403 participants with plaque psoriasis who were candidates for phototherapy or systemic therapy. The participants in the trial were randomly given either the Cosentyx or a placebo, according to the release.
Those who received the Cosentyx had skin that was clear, or almost clear, by the end of the trial. Their results were much more significant than those who had the placebo.
Before the FDA approved Cosentyx, doctors prescribed several different creams or ointments depending on the severity of the patient's condition. None of the remedies provided significant improvements on patient's psoriasis, according to WebMD.
As many as 7.5 million Americans and 25 million people worldwide have psoriasis, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation.
