Treatment Patterns and Pharmacoutilization in Patients Affected by Psoriasis: An Observational Study in an Italian Real-World Setting

• Published in: Drugs - Real World Outcomes Vol. 9; no. 2; pp. 243 - 251
• Main Authors: Perrone, Valentina, Losi, Serena, Maiorino, Alessia, Antonelli, Silvia, Giovannitti, Massimo, Giacomini, Elisa, Sangiorgi, Diego, Degli Esposti, Luca
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.06.2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Arthritis; Biological products; Biological response modifiers; Clinical medicine; Cross-sectional studies; Cytokines; Disease; Drug therapy; Internal Medicine; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Monoclonal antibodies; Observational studies; Original; Original Research Article; Patients; Pharmaceuticals; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Pharmacotherapy; Population; Prescription drugs; Psoriasis; Quality of life; Statistics; Topical medication; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Italy
• ISSN: 2199-1154; 2198-9788
• DOI: 10.1007/s40801-021-00290-3

Background Real-world data can inform the use of biologics for psoriasis (PSO). Objective The aim was to evaluate treatment patterns and analyze pharmacoutilization in PSO patients in a real-world Italian setting, with a focus on the biologics most recently introduced. Methods An observational study based on administrative databases was conducted. Patients were included based on PSO diagnosis identified by either discharge diagnosis or exemption code or prescription of anti-psoriatic topical drugs (proxy of diagnosis). To describe patient characteristics and treatment patterns using the most up-to-date data, two different approaches were used: a cross-sectional study performed during 2016–2018, and a longitudinal study conducted with patients who received their first biological/targeted synthetic drugs (naïve patients) in 2014 and 2017 (the inclusion periods). Results During 2016–2018, the number of prevalent patients diagnosed with PSO was 194,054 (2016), 210,830 (2017), and 225,171 (2018). The percentage of patients receiving biologics or targeted synthetic agents ranged from 1.5 to 2.1%. Among them, naïve patients receiving interleukin (IL) inhibitors increased from 37.5% (2016) to 69.4% (2018), while those receiving anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) decreased from 62.5% (2016) to 30.6% (2018). The longitudinal analysis included 894 and 1218 naïve patients in 2014 and 2017, respectively, of whom 7.2% (2014) and 6.9% (2017) switched therapy after a mean of 7.1 (2014) and 6.9 (2017) months. Overall, 259 patients were prescribed ixekizumab starting in 2017, of whom 73% were naïve. Ixekizumab was prescribed as monotherapy to 52.5%. Conclusions The proportion of patients receiving biologics appeared constant over the years, with an increasing number of naïve patients being prescribed IL-17 inhibitors. Ixekizumab patients were mostly naïve.