Thursday, May 28, 2009

Stelara (ustekinumab) Delayed by the FDA

The psoriasis Stelera (ustekinumab) is a biologic agent that is being reviewed by the FDA for the treatment of psoriasis. The FDA wants more time to review the safety of this biologic (I wonder if this is related to the fact that Raptiva (efalizumab) was voluntarily removed from the market because of safety concerns). Raptiva was approved in 2003 and was used to treat over 46,000 patients. Ustekinumab is a monoclonal antibody given by injections and works on interleukin-12 (IL-12) and interleukin-23 (IL-23). Stelera is currently an investigational agent manufactured by Johnson & Johnson.

Do you know why all these biologic agents sound somewhat familiar? They all seem to end in ab or mab, don't they? Take a look at this: Anticytokine Therapies - confusing names?

1 comment:

  1. I have been on stelara for 6 weeks and my skin is nearly completed cleared I have had no side effects at

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