J&J drug provides safe, effective psoriasis control

By Ransdell Pierson

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) experimental drug ustekinumab proved safe and highly effective in controlling psoriasis for a year or longer in two late-stage trials, while requiring injections only once every three months.

The results suggest the medicine could be a good option for the high percentage of patients with the skin disorder who have failed to continue with current treatments, due to their inconvenience or inadequate effectiveness, researchers said.

Findings from the two Phase III trials -- one involving treatment for a year and the other for up to 76 weeks -- were published in the journal Lancet. They bolster similarly favorable data previously reported in shorter-term analyses.

Both studies involved patients with moderate to severe psoriasis, meaning at least 10 percent of their skin had the scaly patches or other hallmarks of the disease which affects up to an estimated 7.5 million Americans.

In the 76-week study, called Phoenix 1, 766 patients were divided into groups that received either 45-milligram or 90-milligram injections of the drug at the start of the trial, at week 4, and then one injection every 12 weeks. Another group received placebo injections.

"Onset of efficacy was rapid, with higher proportions of ustekinumab-treated patients achieving at least 50 percent improvement" in symptoms by week two, researchers said.

Two thirds of those on both doses of the J&J drug experienced at least a 75 percent reduction in their psoriasis symptoms after 12 weeks, compared with only 3.1 percent of those in the placebo group.

At week 40, that magnitude of relief continued among 150 patients in the low-dose group and 172 patients in the high-dose group.