Original article
Switching to adalimumab for psoriasis patients with a suboptimal response to etanercept, methotrexate, or phototherapy: Efficacy and safety results from an open-label study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2010.03.009Get rights and content

Background

Strategies for transitioning patients with psoriasis from suboptimal therapy have not been delineated.

Objective

We sought to determine the efficacy and safety of transitioning to adalimumab for the treatment of psoriasis in patients with suboptimal response to prior therapy with etanercept, methotrexate (MTX), or narrowband (NB)-ultraviolet (UV)B phototherapy.

Methods

In this 16-week, open-label, phase IIIb trial, patients with chronic plaque psoriasis discontinued suboptimal therapy between 11 and 17 days (etanercept) or between 4 and 10 days (MTX and NB-UVB) before initiating adalimumab (80 mg at week 0, then 40 mg every other week from week 1). The primary end point was the percentage of patients achieving a Physician Global Assessment of “clear” or “minimal” at week 16.

Results

At week 16, Physician Global Assessment of “clear” or “minimal” was achieved by 52% of all enrolled patients (79 of 152) and 49%, 61%, and 48% in the etanercept, MTX, and NB-UVB subgroups, respectively. Four patients (2.6%) experienced at least 125% worsening of Psoriasis Area and Severity Index score relative to screening value at any study visit. The adalimumab safety profile was consistent with results from other psoriasis clinical trials.

Limitations

This study is limited by its relatively short 16-week duration, small patient enrollment, and open-label design.

Conclusion

Patients who had a suboptimal response to etanercept, MTX, or NB-UVB phototherapy experienced a similar, approximately 50% likelihood of achieving a clinically relevant response to adalimumab. Immediate transition to adalimumab from prior suboptimal therapy, with no dosage tapering or overlap, had a low risk of psoriasis flare.

Section snippets

Patients

Institutional review board approval was obtained for each participating medical center. All patients provided written informed consent before any study-related procedures were performed. Eligibility requirements were an age of 18 years or older, a clinical diagnosis of chronic plaque psoriasis for at least 6 months, and a suboptimal response to prior psoriasis therapy. Three patient populations constituted the study population: those with a suboptimal response to treatment with etanercept

Patients

Between December 28, 2008, and April 14, 2009, a total of 152 patients were enrolled: 82 into substudy E, 41 into substudy M, and 29 into substudy P (Fig 1). Patient demographics and disease activity characteristics at screening are shown in Table I. Greater percentages of patients in substudies E and M had PsA (57.3% and 41.5%, respectively) compared with patients in substudy P (24.1%). Patients in substudy E had a longer median duration of suboptimal therapy use (20 months) compared with

Discussion

This 16-week, open-label study of adalimumab demonstrated that approximately half of patients with psoriasis who experienced a suboptimal response to prior therapy with etanercept, MTX, or NB-UVB phototherapy achieved a PGA score of “clear” or “minimal” when switched to adalimumab. The likelihood of achieving this clinically meaningful improvement was similar regardless of which prior therapy had been suboptimal. The strategy of abruptly discontinuing prior therapy and starting adalimumab after

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    The clinical study and analysis reported in this article were supported by research grants from Abbott Laboratories. The analysis reported in this article is based on a phase IIIb trial and pertains to a commercial product (Humira [adalimumab]). Funding for manuscript development was provided by Abbott Laboratories, with medical writing services provided by Teresa R. Brtva, PhD, of Arbor Communications Inc., and Deborah Roney, MA, of Abbott. Yuzhen Wang, of Abbott, provided statistical assistance.

    Disclosure: Dr Strober has served as an advisory board member and investigator for Abbott, Amgen, Astellas, Centocor, and Genentech; has received research and fellowship grants from Abbott, Amgen, and Centocor; and has served as a member of the speakers bureaus of Abbott, Amgen, Astellas, and Genentech. Dr Poulin has received research grants from Abbott, Amgen/Wyeth, Astellas/Biogen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, Centocor, EMD Serono, Isotechnika, and Schering-Plough. Dr Kerdel has received research grants from Abbott, Amgen/Wyeth, Centocor, Merck, Novartis, and Stiefel; has served on advisory boards for Abbott, Amgen/Wyeth, Astellas, and Centocor; and has served as a member of the speakers bureaus of Abbott, Amgen, Centocor, and Stiefel. Dr Langley has served as an advisory board member and investigator for Abbott, Amgen, Astellas, Boehringer Ingelheim, Centocor, EMD Serono, Genentech, and Isotechnika; he has received lecture fees from Abbott, Amgen/Wyeth, Astellas, Genentech, Novartis, and Schering-Plough. Dr Papp has received consulting fees from Abbott, Amgen, Centocor, Isotechnika, Johnson & Johnson, MedImmune, Merck-Serono, and Wyeth; has received investigator research funding from Abbott, Amgen, Astellas, Biogen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, Centocor, EMD Serono, Genentech, Isotechnika, and Schering-Plough; has served on advisory boards for Abbott, Amgen, Centocor, EMD Serono, Genentech, Isotechnika, and Schering-Plough; and has served as a member of the speakers bureaus of Abbott, Amgen, EMD Serono, Genentech, Isotechnika, Schering-Plough, and Wyeth. Ms Gu, Dr Gupta, and Dr Okun are employees of Abbott Laboratories and own Abbott stock.

    Trial registration: www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT00566722.

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