Top medical journal features new psoriasis drug
Published study for Amevive sparks national news interest
First posted and last updated July 27, 2001
The July 26, 2001, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine includes a study on alefacept (brand name Amevive), a new drug being investigated for the treatment of psoriasis. This article spurred news stories by ABC News, the Associated Press, Reuters and various other news outlets about psoriasis and the development of new treatments.
Amevive is one of several emerging therapies for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. These new treatments target and block specific parts of the body's immune reaction that leads to the diseases. They hold the promise of being more effective and safer than today's treatments, although they are still under investigation and not yet approved for psoriasis patients by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A prestigious medical journal like The New England Journal of Medicine helps grab the attention of the mainstream media, which in turn helps educate people with psoriasis and the public about the disease and the exciting research now taking place.
The NPF has been closely following the development of new treatments like Amevive for some time. The New England Journal article discusses a phase II study of Amevive. NPF staff members reported on the release of phase III study results for Amevive and efalizumab (brand name Xanelim), another immune-targeted therapy for psoriasis, at a scientific meeting in June in San Francisco.
Amevive and Xanelim are the two experimental psoriasis drugs farthest along in the development process. Both could be submitted to the FDA for approval by the end of 2001, but it could be a year or more after that before patients will have access to these treatments.
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