Biography
Biography: Anchala Parthasaradhi
Abstract
Psoriasis is a chronic, non-communicable, disabling disease for which has no cure and can effect on patient’s quality of life. The prevalence of psoriasis is between 0.09-11.4 percent and is treated with topical and systemic therapies as well as phototherapy which are given in combination usually, in spite having the above therapeutic options, achieving complete cure of psoriasis is far-fetched. The introduction of biologic and small molecule inhibitor targeted therapy has revolutionized the treatment of psoriasis. Biologics are designed to target specific components of the immune system and are a major technological advancement over traditional immunosuppressive medications. Several of these therapies have been released and are available for general use, such as Infliximab, Adalimumab, Etanercept, etc. The major limitation seen with these agents are when it is used on long term basis, it is associated with adverse effects like immunosuppression and opportunistic infections. There is a large unmet need especially in India, for low cost and low toxicity biological therapies for autoimmune disorders. The novel monoclonal antibody Itolizumab binds the T-cell co-stimulatory CD6 and inhibits T-cell proliferation, signaling gene expression and cytokine secretion. Itolizumab has shown to be well tolerated and effective in a randomized phase II trial and phase 3 trial done by Krupashankar et al, where the efficacy and safety of Itolizumab was compared with the placebo, showed that Itolizumab (1.6 mg/kg) was efficacious (P=0.0043) at the end of 12 weeks. The outcomes of these trials clearly demonstrate the efficacy and superior safety profile of the Itolizumab. Biologic therapies, including Infliximab, Etanercept, Adalimumab and Itolizumab, have altered the treatment landscape in the management of moderate-to-severe psoriasis, leading to improved prognosis, control of symptoms, better quality of life for individuals affected with generally high efficacy rates and relatively good safety profiles. It has provided clinicians with the opportunity to directly target the known key mediators in the pathogenesis of this disease; hence it is been included as a treatment modality in the guidelines.