Apremilast in psoriasis: a profile of its use

Compliance with ethical standards

Funding: The preparation of this review was not supported by any external funding.

Conflicts of interest: E. D. Deeks, K. A. Lyseng-Williamson and G. M. Keating are employees of Adis/Springer, are responsible for the article content and declare no conflicts of interest..

Additional information about this Adis Drug Review can be found here.

Abstract

Apremilast (Otezla) is an orally administered, small molecule inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) that provides an effective, generally well tolerated and convenient treatment option for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. In phase 3 trials, 16 weeks of treatment with apremilast 30 mg twice daily reduced the severity of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (including difficult-totreat nail, scalp and palmoplantar manifestations) and improved most patient-reported outcomes, including pruritus and quality of life. Emerging real-world data generally support these findings. The most common tolerability issues with apremilast are gastrointestinal in nature. The drug is not associated with an increased risk of infection or malignancy, and no laboratory monitoring is required. With longer term use, the clinical benefits of apremilast were durable and no new significant adverse events emerged. Access to the full article can be found here.

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