Clinical, patient and estimated cost benefits of proactive management versus reactive management with calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate foam for the treatment of plaque psoriasis in Finland

Abstract

Background

Proactive management of plaque psoriasis with twice-weekly topical calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate (Cal/BD) foam has a demonstrated clinical benefit in preventing disease relapse compared to reactive management, where Cal/BD foam is only given as rescue therapy once-daily for four weeks after relapse. The impact of proactive management with Cal/BD foam on a wider range of clinical responses is not yet known, nor is its potential cost-effectiveness in the healthcare system of Finland.

Methods

This study involved a post-hoc analysis exploring the clinical and patient-reported benefits of proactive versus reactive management with Cal/BD foam observed in the PSO-LONG trial (NCT02899962). A range of response criteria based on modified psoriasis area and severity index (mPASI) and dermatology life quality index (DLQI) were analyzed, and the cost-effectiveness of proactive versus reactive management was estimated in a Finnish healthcare setting.

Results and conclusion

The analysis found a consistent clinical benefit of proactive management compared to reactive management on all response criteria, and a markedly lower cost-per-responder for the response criteria of mPASI 75, mPASI ≤ 2 and DLQ1 ≤ 1. The analysis was robust to sensitivity analyses on key inputs and demonstrates the cost and clinical benefits of proactive over reactive management of plaque psoriasis with Cal/BD foam in the Finnish healthcare setting.

Keywords:

• Psoriasis
• proactive
• topical

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Symmetron Limited and Jana Tillotson for editorial and graphic design support.

Disclosure statement

Rauno J. Harvima has been an investigator, speaker, consultant and an advisory board member for LEO Pharma.

Melinda Gooderham has been an investigator, speaker and/or advisor for: AbbVie, Amgen, Akros, Arcutis, Boehringer Ingelheim, BMS, Celgene, Dermira, Eli Lilly, Galderma, GSK, Incyte, Janssen, Kyowa Kirin, LEO Pharma, MedImmune, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche, Sanofi Genzyme, Sun Pharma, UCB and Valeant.

Incyte, Janssen, Kyowa Kirin, LEO Pharma, MedImmune, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche, Sanofi Genzyme, Sun Pharma, UCB and Valeant.

Stephen Tyring has served as an investigator for LEO Pharma.

Henrik Thoning and Nanna Nyholm are employees at LEO Pharma.

Linda Stein Gold has been an investigator, speaker, consultant or an advisory board member for AbbVie Inc., Amgen, Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Eli Lilly and Company, LEO Pharma, Mayne Pharma, Novartis, Ortho Dermatologics Inc., Pfizer, and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Data availability statement

The clinical dataset used for this analysis is from the PSO-LONG clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02899962). Patient-level data records were analyzed post-hoc to obtain efficacy estimates in the form of area-under-the-curve statistics. These patient-level data remain confidential and on file with LEO Pharma, the sponsoring company.

Additional information

Funding

The publication is sponsored and paid for by LEO Pharma A/S.