New drugs for peripheral joint psoriatic arthritis

Abstract

Up to 3% of people have psoriasis, and as many as 42% of these have an associated chronic inflammatory arthritis.1 In up to 20% of such patients, the arthritis progresses to become severe, destructive and deforming.2–5 Traditional drug treatments include NSAIDs and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) used for rheumatoid arthritis. ▼Leflunomide (Arava - Sanofi-Aventis), ▼etanercept (Enbrel - Wyeth) ▼inifliximab (Remicade - Schering-Plough) and ▼adalimumab (Humira - Abbott) are licensed for the treatment of patients with peripheral joint disease in psoriatic arthritis. Here we review drug therapy for such patients, concentrating on the newer agents.