Psoriasis Vulgaris Patients Satisfied With Cal/BD Foam Treatment

Seong Jin Jo

Topical Cal/BD foam is not only an effective treatment for psoriasis vulgaris, but patients are generally satisfied with this innovative new treatment.

A team, led by Seong Jin Jo, Department of Dermatology, Seoul National University College of Medicine and Seoul National University Hospital, identified treatment outcomes and satisfaction in adult patients with psoriasis vulgaris treated with Cal/BD foam in dermatological centers and outpatient clinics in Korea.

A Lack of Data

Recently, clinicians have begun to use a foam formulation for the fixed-dose combination of calcipotriol and betamethasone dipropionate to treat patients with psoriasis vulgaris. Observational studies have shown patients treated with Cal/BD foam in routine practice have been more prevalent in Western countries, but rare in Asian countries.

The prevalence of psoriasis in Korea in 2015 was 453 per 100,000 individuals, with plaque psoriasis accounting for 83.8% of the cases.

In the prospective, open-label, noncomparative, noninterventional study, the investigators collected data at the time of enrollment and 4 weeks later in 175 patients with psoriasis vulgaris between May 28, 2020 and July 3, 2021 at dermatological centers and outpatient clinics of 11 general hospitals in Korea.

The mean age of the patient population was 46.7 years and 58.9% of the participants were male. The patients had at least mild psoriasis severity and no concomitant psoriasis treatment at enrollment.

Most patients (n = 130; 74.3%) used the Cal/BD foam treatment at least once per day, with the mean number of open cans per patient during the study period of 1.43.

Safety

The safety analysis showed 166 patients had at least mild psoriasis—an Investigator Global Assessment score of at least 2. These patients were analysis for treatment outcomes and satisfaction. Of this group, 71.7% had mild psoriasis at baseline, while 57.8% of patients achieved an IGA of 0 or 1 at the second visit.

The investigators also found patients in the treatment group achieved significant improvements in the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) scores from visit 1 to visit 2 (PASI −2.4 ± 3.0; DLQI −4.5 ± 5.2; both P <0.0001).

Satisfaction

For patient satisfaction, 77% of patients treated with the Cal/BD foam treatment were satisfied with its effectiveness, 60% were satisfied with its ease of use, and 73.9% were satisfied in terms of global satisfaction.

After conducting the safety analysis, the investigators identified 14 adverse events in 7.4% (n = 13) of participants including 2 adverse drug reactions in 2 patients and 4 serious adverse events in 4 patients.

“In conclusion, this first Korean real-world study of Cal/BD foam shows improvement of lesions and health-related quality of life after 4 weeks of treatment, with high global satisfaction and good overall tolerability and safety,” the authors wrote.

The study, “Calcipotriol/betamethasone aerosol foam (Enstilum) for the topical treatment of psoriasis vulgaris in routine practice in Korea: A prospective, noninterventional, multicenter study of treatment outcomes and patient satisfaction,” was published online in The Journal of Dermatology.