Optimizing therapy: tazarotene in combination with phototherapy

Phototherapy is often used in combination with other antipsoriatic treatmen ts in an attempt to improve efficacy and reduce patients' cumulative exposu re to radiation. Although this aim has been achieved with some combinations , the additional therapies often introduce a potential risk of other tolera bility and safety problems. The efficacy of tazarotene reported in clinical trials to date suggest that this drug may help to improve the efficacy of phototherapy, and perhaps reduce the ultraviolet light exposure required wi thout introducing additional, clinically significant problems. Preliminary results from the first 10 patients in a clinical trial investigating such c ombination therapy are reported here. They demonstrate that: the addition o f tazarotene to UVB phototherapy increases the percentage of patients achie ving treatment success (greater than or equal to 50% global improvement in psoriasis) from 60% to 100% at Day 81. The UVB plus tazarotene combination achieved consistently greater reductions in the elevation and scaling of di fficult-to-treat psoriatic plaques than UVB phototherapy alone or UVB photo therapy plus vehicle gel. The tazarotene combination therapy also achieved initial treatment success in less than half the time needed with photothera py alone (median of 32 vs. 67 days). Combining UVB phototherapy with tazaro tene treatment appears to offer a valuable therapeutic option that is more efficacious and faster than WE phototherapy alone.