Psoriasis – Injectable Treatment

Transcript

Injectables, systemic treatments available for psoriasis. Yes, these are called biologics or biosimilars. These drugs are usually given in injectable form and can alter the immune system in a way that disrupts the disease cycle in psoriasis and can improve symptoms and signs of the disease often within weeks. Several of these drugs are approved for treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. And people who often haven’t responded to first-line therapies. The therapeutic options are rapidly expanding and there’s constantly newer research in this field. Biologics should be used with caution, because they can carry the risk of suppressing your immune system in ways that increase your risk of serious infections. In particular, individuals taking these treatments must be screened for conditions such as tuberculosis and hepatitis. These types of drugs are often very expensive because they’re newer, there’s no generic forms in many cases, and they may or may not be covered by health insurance plans. Sometimes they require lengthy processes of approval called prior authorizations. Examples of biologic medications that exist today include infliximab remicade, atinocept, also known as Zenberol, adalimumab, which is Humira, ustekinumab, known as Stelara, secukinumab, also called Cosentyx, Ixekizumab known as Taltz, brodalumab, known as Siliq, guselkumab, which is known as Tremfya, tildrakizumab, known as Ilumya, risankizumab, known as Skyrizi. There are other ones being developed depending on other cytokines and pathogenic pathways that are involved in psoriasis.