THE SAFETY AND EFFICACY OF TAZAROTENE GEL, A TOPICAL ACETYLENIC RETINOID, IN THE TREATMENT OF PSORIASIS

Objective: To determine the safety and efficacy of topically applied t azarotene gel in the treatment of mild to moderate psoriatic plaques. Design: Two multicenter, double-blind, randomized studies of 6- and 8- week duration, with an 8-week follow-up in the second study. Setting: Medical center outpatient dermatology services. Participants: One hund red fifty-three adults with 2 bilateral target plaques on the hunk, le gs, or arms. Interventions: Vehicle gel or 0.01% and 0.05% tazarotene gel administered twice daily to 45 patients (study A), or 0.05% and 0. 1% tazarotene gel administered either once or twice daily to 108 patie nts (study B). Main Outcome Measures: Treatment success and plaque ele vation, scaling, and erythema vs time. Results: The 0.01% tazarotene g el showed minimal efficacy. Applications of 0.05% and 0.1% tazarotene gels administered once or twice daily, resulted in significant improve ments in plaque elevation, scaling, erythema, and overall clinical sev erity as early as I week. Treatment success rates (defined as >75% imp rovement from baseline) were 45% with 0.05% tazarotene gel vs 13% with vehicle gel after 6 weeks of treatment (P<.05; study A) and ranged fr om 48% to 63% with the various tazarotene treatment regimens after 8 w eeks of treatment (study B). These improvements were evident at the 8- week follow-up. treatment-related adverse effects were generally limit ed to mild or moderate local irritation and were less frequent with th e treatment regimen administered once daily. Conclusion: The 0.05% and 0.1% tazarotene gels demonstrated significant efficacy in the treatme nt of mild to moderate psoriatic plaques that persisted after cessatio n of treatment.