Amgen has announced new data based on its drug Otezla (apremilast), presented at the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) congress in Boston, Massachusetts. The congress is being held from 25-29 March 2022.
The data includes findings about the unmet need for patients with plaque psoriasis. This follows the recent US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) expanded Otezla label approval in December 2021.
Psoriasis is a serious, chronic inflammatory condition which causes raised, red, scaly patches to appear on the skin. The disease is typically found to affect the outside of the elbows, knees or scalp, but can appear on any location.
Around 125 million people worldwide have psoriasis. This includes an estimated 14 million people in Europe and more than 7.5 million people in the United States, while about 80% of those patients have been diagnosed with plaque psoriasis.
“The data being presented at AAD demonstrates Amgen’s continued commitment to supporting patients that are living with plaque psoriasis – especially those affected in difficult-to-treat areas as well as those with palmoplantar pustulosis – and understanding the unmet needs they continue to face,” said Primal Kaur, vice president, global development, inflammation at Amgen.
“With Otezla’s recently expanded label that enables us to reach plaque psoriasis patients across all levels of disease severity, Amgen is now able to offer a treatment that could help to alleviate the significant burden on these patients”.
Otezla is currently the first and only oral treatment with FDA approval in adult patients with plaque psoriasis across all severities – mild, moderate and severe.
Amgen’s data is from a phase 2 palmoplantar pustulosis (PPP) Japanese trial (PPP-001), as well as data from both the PROMINENT and ADVANCE phase 3 studies in patients diagnosed with mild to moderate plaque psoriasis.
Results taken from the PPP-001 trial demonstrated that apremilast provided significant and early improvements in PPP severity, itching and pain. Results from the PROMINENT and ADVANCE trials further reinforced the effectiveness of apremilast in patients diagnosed with mild to moderate plaque psoriasis.
Results from a multinational survey, Understanding Psoriatic Disease Leveraging Insights for Treatment (UPLIFT), conducted by Amgen in 2020, and from the real-world CorEvitas’ Psoriasis registry further highlight the unmet needs in patients with mild to moderate plaque psoriasis. They explore the evolution of attitudes and behaviours of people living with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
3,806 people living with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis were involved in the survey, along with 473 dermatologists and 450 rheumatologists in eight countries in North America, Europe and Asia. The survey was overseen by an academic committee of thought leaders in both dermatology and rheumatology.