Boni Elewski, MD: Safety and Efficacy of New Psoriasis Therapies

In part 1 of her interview with HCPLive, Boni Elewski, MD, Professor and Chair, Director of Clinical Research at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, spoke of new and upcoming psoriasis therapies.

Elewski followed up with speaking on the efficacy and safety of these therapies, as well as 1 biologic used that aided in treating psoriasis and preventing bad outcomes from COVID-19 infection.

She also noted that affected patients may have certain preferences for how they are treated.

“Every patient is going to be a little different and how they want to be treated,” Elewski said. "Some people might forget giving an injection every 3 months and may prefer to give something more often so they have something to remember- ‘I'll do it on the first day of each month, and I won't forget,’ versus ‘well, I have to get my next shot in 3 months’ and 4 months go by and they realize they haven't gotten a shot.”

Eleweski added that a patient’s insurance company will typically ensure that a patient is delivered the drug when it’s due, and that in some instances oral biologics such as the TYK2 inhibitor duecravacitinib could be prescribed for needle-phobic patients.

Though not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), deucravacitinib had been shown to be well-tolerated in previous phase 2 studies.

Another promising biologic, infliximab, had been tested on patients who had been infected with the COVID-19 virus.

“There's actually a study going on right now in the US looking at infliximab, which is a biologic given IV-only being given to patients who have COVID, to see if you can prevent the cytokine storm that leads to bad COVID outcomes,” Elewski said. “So, these are patients who are admitted in a hospital with COVID-19 to prevent them from deteriorating further with a cytokine storm.”

To hear more of the safety and accessibility of developing psoriasis therapies, watch the video above.