Open label study to evaluate the efficacy of re-treatment with etanercept in patients with psoriasis.

BACKGROUND: Etanercept has been used to treat chronic plaque psoriasis. Previously reported data demonstrated that some patients experienced secondary failure and frequently rotational-switch therapy is used. The re-treatment with etanercept as part of the rotational therapy could be considered as another safe and efficient therapeutic approach. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of the re-treatment with etanercept in patients with a history of etanercept use with good response and secondary loss of efficacy. METHODS: This is an open label prospective study involving 20 patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, who had been initially treated with etanercept and were re-treated after a variable interval with 50 mg BIW for 12 weeks. RESULTS: At week 12 of etanercept re-treatment, 13 of 20 patients (65%) achieved a PGA score of 2 or less and 40% (8 of 20), achieved a PGA score of 0 to 1. Etanercept was well tolerated and no serious adverse events were reported. LIMITATIONS: Our study involved a small number of patients. Failure of etanercept was establish by patient's history. However we were able to correlate such failure from our medical records in 17 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Re-treatment with etanercept, after secondary loss of efficacy should be considered in patients with psoriasis if satisfactory therapy cannot be achieved with other therapeutic regimens.