Good psoriasis data for Centocor's Remicade

US drugmaker Centocor says that its global market-leading anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha therapy, Remicade (infliximab) resulted in rapid, significant improvement and long-term response in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in a Phase III trial.

According to the findings from the placebo-controlled, dose-ranging EXPRESS II trial, which were presented at the 64th annual American Academy of Dermatology meeting, held in San Francisco, California, eight week maintenance therapy resulted in greater long-term skin clearance compared with as-needed regimens within each dose.

At week 10, after infusions at weeks 0, two and six, 70% of patients on 3mg/kg of the agent and 75% of those on a 5mg/kg regimen, achieved at least 75% improvement as measured by the Psoriasis Area Severity Index, compared with 2% of patients on placebo (p<0.001).