Psoriasis Recap: Investigational Therapies for GPP; How Patients View Remission in PsA

Generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) might be considered “as a rare, angrier variant of psoriasis,” according to a dermatologist presenting at a recent symposium.

However, Dermatology Times reported that there are no FDA-approved therapies for the disease; current treatments are off-label. That means they aren’t as accessible to patients given insurance policies around off-label use, said Bruce Strober, MD, PhD, cofounder of Central Connecticut Dermatology in Cromwell and clinical professor of dermatology at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.

At the Symposium for Inflammatory Skin Disease last month, he spoke about targeted drugs that are in the early stages of development for GPP, including imsidolimab and spesolimab, both of which inhibit interleukin (IL)-36R; they are currently showing promise in phase 1 and phase 2 trials, he said.

Severe GPP can cause diffuse sterile pustules, significant skin pain, and systemic complaints such as fever, fatigue, and metabolic abnormalities.

Read more about the report in Dermatology Times.

Disease impact and disease activity are factors identified with the concept of patient-defined remission in psoriatic arthritis (PsA), according to a recent study.

Reported by Rheumatology Network, researchers used study data from ReFlaP data, an international PsA study. In PsA, the treatment goal is remission (REM) or low disease activity (LDA), but information about what patients think about REM is lacking.

In patients with PsA, patient-defined “remission” (REM) and low disease activity (LDA) are largely dominated by disease impact, including pain, as well as disease activity, chronicity and age, comorbidities, and symptoms related to other conditions, according to the results.

Read more about the study in Rheumatology Network.