BIOLOGIC THERAPY FOR PSORIASIS: A REVIEW OF INFLIXIMAB, ETANERCEPT, ADALIMUMAB, EFALIZUMAB, AND ALEFACEPT

Abstract
Psoriasis affects approximately 2% of the population in the US and Europe. This chronic skin disease is responsible for a significant increase in biopsychosocial morbidity to those that suffer from it. Among the vast armamentarium of therapies that have come about to combat this disease the most novel therapy are the biologics. These bioengineered antibodies offer a unique advantage over all previous therapies, in that they target certain key points in the immune sequence responsible for psoriasis. These are the tumor necrosis factor pathway inhibitors; infliximab, etanercept, and adalimumab, and the T-cell-targeted therapies; efalizumab and alefacept. Further, while these antibodies are new to dermatology, these concepts and some of these drugs have been used in rheumatology. From that fields literature is where the original safety profiles of these drugs was first discussed. Currently, that foundation has been supplemented with psoriatic patient populations which have different relative risks profiles than patients afflicted with RA.

Key words
Psoriasis, biologic, infliximab, adalimumab, efalizumab, alefacept, etanercept

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