News and Events News Archive

2002 National Conference Summary: Saturday morning

More than 400 people from 29 states and Canada gathered in Orlando, Fla., Aug. 9-11, for the 2002 National Conference. For everyone, the theme of the conference was the same: connecting with people and knowledge.

To illustrate the conference theme, here is a description of some of the events that took place and the people who were there.

Friday

Saturday: morning afternoon evening

Sunday

Saturday, 8 a.m.
On Saturday morning, introductory remarks by Dale White, vice chairman of the National Psoriasis Foundation Board of Trustees, and Gail M. Zimmerman, Psoriasis Foundation president and CEO, were followed by presentations by three psoriasis experts about the immunology and genetics of psoriasis and new treatments. Philip Mease, M.D., a clinical professor of rheumatology at the University of Washington, followed with a presentation on psoriatic arthritis.
"We are committed over the next three years to making psoriasis much more visible in the media, and that is our commitment to you," Ms. Zimmerman told the audience.

"There is a new era for psoriasis coming on, as you'll hear about today. There are new biologics, there is new research going on. It is very exciting. But I want to emphasize that existing therapies are helpful, and they work. You can get psoriasis under control with existing therapies today."

"I know some of you out there have told me your psoriasis can not be controlled. For you, these biologics may offer great hope," she said.

The general session reached hundreds of other people around the world who were listening to the event live via the Web and phone, thanks to HealthTalk, an Psoriasis Foundation education partner. The company broadcast a live audio feed of the entire general session via its Web site, www.healthtalk.com.

Recognizing his presentation would be reaching an international audience, Gerald Krueger, M.D., chairman of the Psoriasis Foundation Medical Advisory Board and a professor of dermatology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, opened his talk about the immunology of psoriasis with the comment, "Welcome to the world!"

Steve Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., professor of dermatology, pathology and public health sciences at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Mark Daly, a researcher at the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gave presentations on new treatments and the genetics of psoriasis, respectively.

"The stuff that you can be excited about right now is the work being done mostly by large companies with a lot of money exploring drugs to treat psoriasis; some of them are available right now," said Dr. Feldman.

Dr. Feldman discussed clinical trial data on the effectiveness and safety of four prospective biologic treatments for psoriasis: Amevive, Raptiva (formerly Xanelim), Remicade and Enbrel. These drugs are called biologics because they are made from living cells, rather than synthesized chemicals. They inhibit specific immune system processes that help drive psoriasis, rather than affect the entire immune system like other systemic drugs, such as methotrexate. In clinical trials for these new drugs, some people have experienced very good responses, and some have experienced just okay responses. But in clinical trials, doctors do not have the liberty of combining these biologics and other treatments, such as topical Dovonex, to augment their effectiveness. But they will in practice.

"So in real life, these drugs will probably do even better," Dr. Feldman said.