“It seems like apremilast is definitely a good option if patients can tolerate the GI upset,” Dr. Wu said.
Apremilast can safely and effectively be combined with other psoriasis therapies: Dermatologists at the University of Toronto reported on a retrospective analysis of 81 biologic-naive psoriasis patients treated with apremilast in combination with methotrexate, acitretin (Soriatane), cyclosporine, narrowband UVB, etanercept, infliximab (Remicade), adalimumab (Humira), and/or ustekinumab (Stelara). Of these patients, 81% achieved a PASI 75 response at week 12 (J Cutan Med Surg. 2016 Jul;20[4]:313-6).
“That’s pretty good. It’s certainly better than apremilast by itself. So if you can get the payer to cover a combination of apremilast and something else, it may help get to PASI 75,” Dr. Wu noted.
Session chair Craig L. Leonardi, MD, said he hasn’t had any luck in going that route.
“The insurance industry just won’t give me apremilast in combination with a biologic drug. Even though it makes complete sense to use it in place of methotrexate with a biologic, I just can’t get it,” according to Dr. Leonardi, a dermatologist at Saint Louis University.