The journey for US psoriasis patients prescribed a topical: a retrospective database evaluation of patient progression to oral and/or biologic treatment.

BACKGROUND: A specific sequence for psoriasis (PsO) therapy has not been defined.

OBJECTIVES: This retrospective, observational cohort study characterized pathways of PsO treatment over 3 years for newly diagnosed patients initially treated with a topical medication.

METHODS: Adult PsO patients from the Explorys database (March 1 2011 to June 30 2015) were grouped according to medication-use patterns: 1) discontinued therapy; 2) topical therapy only; 3) switched/added an oral agent; and 4) switched/added a biologic agent.

RESULTS: Of 6875 patients, 907 (13.2%) discontinued treatment; 2544 (37.0%) used topical only, and 3319 (45.7%) and 819 (11.9%) switched/added-on an oral and/or biologic agent, respectively. Patients progressed to biologic treatment faster than to oral agents (median 254 vs. 378 d; p < .0001). Using an oral agent before a biologic significantly delayed biologic initiation compared to progressing to biologic directly from topical (median 456 vs. 90 d; p < .0001).

LIMITATIONS: Disease severity and the reason for treatment transitions were not assessed.

CONCLUSIONS: Patients initiating topical PsO treatment progressed to biologics faster than to oral agent using an oral agent prior to a biologic significantly delayed biologic initiation. Maintaining patients on an effective topical treatment may minimize the need for a switch to oral and biologics.