Officials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the new drug Taltz, which is designed as a treatment for adults who have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.
Psoriasis, a skin condition and autoimmune disorder, causes a person’s skin to turn red and flake. It is typically found in people with a family history of psoriasis who are between 15 and 35 years old. Plaque psoriasis is the most commonly found kind of psoriasis; it causes thick, red skin that has flaky, silver-white scales.
The active ingredient in Taltz is ixekizumab, an antibody that bonds with the interleukin (IL)-17A protein, which causes inflammation. This bond allows ixekizumab to stop the inflammation that typically causes plaque psoriasis to develop.
To receive Taltz, patients must have injections. It is designed specially for patients who are also candidates for a treatment that delivers treatments through the bloodstream by injection or mouth (systemic therapy) or for ultraviolet light treatment (phototherapy).
“Today’s approval provides patients suffering from plaque psoriasis with another important treatment option to help relieve the skin irritation and discomfort from the condition,” Julie Beitz, director of the Office of Drug Evaluation III in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said.
