A retrospective observational study on biological drug treatment in a daily practice serving patients with psoriasis in Japan

Background: In Japan, more than five years have passed since emergence of the first three biologics, infliximab, adalimumab, and ustekinumab, became available in daily practice; however, no data for drug survival was reported from Japan. Objective: To study the long-term drug survival of infliximab, adalimumab, and ustekinumab used for Japanese psoriatic patients. Methods: We retrieved data on all patients treated with biological agents and calculated the long-term drug survival for infliximab, adalimumab, and ustekinumab using our psoriasis registry (Kurume Psoriasis Registry: KURUPR) consisted of 343 patients by the end of March 2017. We analyzed 103 treatment courses of 83 patients with all types of psoriasis, as well as 79 treatment courses of 62 patients with psoriasis vulgaris using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: Drug survival was higher for ustekinumab than infliximab and adalimumab in both settings, although there were no statistical differences. Conclusions: Previous studies of long-term drug survival in patients with psoriasis vulgaris showed significantly higher drug survival for ustekinumab than infliximab, and adalimumab. Our data showed similar tendency. Besides randomized clinical trials, drug survival data is useful because it reflects real-world management.