Janssen-Cilag’s STELARA Approved By NICE

STELARA (ustekinumab) has been approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) as a treatment option for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

STELARA, the first in a new class of biologics for the treatment of psoriasis, works by targeting interleukin-12 (IL-12) and IL-23. It provides visible and significant improvements in psoriasis severity, and has the added advantage of a convenient dosing regimen for patients – just five injections per year in comparison to a possible 104 injections with etanercept.

Dr Tony Downs, consultant dermatologist at Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Psoriasis is an incurable chronic skin condition and many patients hate the way they look and are clinically depressed. STELARA offers both physicians and patients an alternative treatment choice, which is important because psoriasis is not a straightforward disease. Its severity can wax and wane, it can become resistant to any treatment and patients can develop side effects to many of the current alternative treatment options. In clinical practice I have found STELARA to be effective in patients that have failed on other systemic therapies.”

In clinical studies, treatment with STELARA demonstrated a significant, visible improvement in patient’s psoriasis with convenient 12 weekly maintenance dosing. This has the potential to give patients with psoriasis greater freedom to live their lives with a significantly reduced burden of disease and without the inconvenience of frequent injections.

STELARA is a new, fully human monoclonal antibody with a novel mechanism of action that targets the p40 subunit of the cytokines interleukin-12 (IL-12) and interleukin-23 (IL-23). STELARA is licensed for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in adults who failed to respond to, or have a contraindication to, or are intolerant to other systemic therapies including ciclosporin, methotrexate and PUVA (psoralen plus ultraviolet A light).