HealthCert Blog

An Italian study has investigated the effectiveness, tolerability and reasons for discontinuation of etanercept in a real-life cohort of children and adolescents with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

Etanercept is a biopharmaceutical that treats autoimmune diseases by acting as a tumour necrosis factor inhibitor. It is licensed for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in children.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Dermatological Treatment, collected data from multiple centres concerning patients under 17 years of age who started treatment with etanercept from 2011 to 2015. A group of 23 patients were identified.

After 12 weeks, 86.9 percent of patients achieved an improvement of more than 50 percent while 56.5 percent of patients achieved an improvement of more than 75 percent. Efficacy was sustained over one year.

In 15 patients, etanercept was still ongoing at the time of data collection, while the therapy was suspended in three patients due to inefficacy. Reasons for discontinuation were classified as ineffectiveness, adverse events, remission, or other reasons. The medication was overall well tolerated.

The study concluded that etanercept is, in fact, an effective and well-tolerated treatment in a real-life cohort of patients.

Read more recent research in psoriasis.

Source:
Di Lernia, V. et al. (18 August 2017.) Effectiveness of etanercept in children with plaque psoriasis in real practice: a one-year multicenter retrospective study. Journal of Dermatological Treatment. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09546634.2017.1364692

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