ONCE-DAILY TREATMENT OF PSORIASIS WITH TACALCITOL COMPARED WITH TWICE-DAILY TREATMENT WITH CALCIPOTRIOL - A DOUBLE-BLIND TRIAL

Once daily topical treatment of psoriasis with tacalcitol ointment (4 mu g/g) was compared with twice daily treatment with calcipotriol oint ment (50 mu g/g) in a double-blind, randomized study over a treatment period of 8 weeks, The severity of pruritus, erythema, infiltration an d scaling was scored on a scale from 0 to 4, These features were score d at the initiation of treatment, after 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks of treatme nt, and at 4 weeks after discontinuation of treatment, The sum score w as the total score for erythema, infiltration and scaling. Serum level s of calcium, phosphate, ionized calcium and intact parathyroid hormon e were used as safety parameters. Two hundred and eighty-seven adults with stable plaque psoriasis participated and were treated at least on ce. Both tacalcitol and calcipotriol ointments effectively reduced the severity of psoriasis, The mean reduction in the sum score in the int ention-to-treat population of 287 patients was 4.03 in the group treat ed with tacalcitol compared with 5.05 in the group treated with calcip otriol. The mean baseline sum scores were 7.64 and 7.45, respectively, The acceptability of both ointments was excellent. and none of the pa tients had adverse effects in terms of increased serum calcium or othe r alterations in calcium metabolism. Although less effective than calc ipotriol ointment used twice daily, tacalcitol ointment is an effectiv e and useful once daily treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis.