Powerful Psoriasis Drug Approved!

This latest FDA approval would bring relief to more than 7.5 million Americans who suffer from a chronic skin disorder called PSORIASIS, which look like red, thick, scaly patches on the skin. Psoriatic patches, which are usually itchy and painful, are inflamed areas where excessive layers of cells had built up on the skin.

And now, after extensive and extended testing, the FDA has approved ustekinumab (Stelara) for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

(See amazing before-and-after photos!)

Psoriasis is an auto-immune disease, which means a faulty immune system mistakenly attacks the skin and joints, treating the body like an invader and releasing chemicals that otherwise fight infections and foreign substances.

As bad as it already looks, psoriasis affects more than the skin. The disease is associated with other chronic health conditions like diabetes, heart attack, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure and depression.

Psoriasis has a strong genetic component and many genes have been associated with it, so understanding how the disease is works was a complex matter. Two major genes have been extensively studied in the last decade – the gene IL12B on chromosome 5q (which expresses interleukin-12B) and IL23R on chromosome 1p (which expresses the IL-23 receptor).

Ustekinumab (Stelara) is a biologic drug that blocks the two substances IL-12 and IL-23 so that their actions are inhibited. The drug is not exactly acting at the gene level, but pretty close to it! In the clinical trials, patients significantly improved after 12 weeks of treatment. And when patients were later taken off the injectible drug, psoriasis symptoms returned very slowly.

"It’s not a cure," tells Dr. Craig Leonardi, a lead investigator in clinical trials for the drug, "but psoriasis did not come back with a vengeance."

For more on psoriasis and to connect with a support group, check out the National Psoriasis Foundation.

Image: Newscom