Current Standard of Care and Treatment Options in Psoriasis

Panelists discuss the questions below in this video. How have treatment options for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis elevated the standard of care over the last decade?

Videos

Panelists examine how these emerging therapies compare with existing options and consider what their advances mean for clinicians and patients in everyday practice.

Clinical

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Cytokine Pathways and Their Impact on Plaque Psoriasis

Panelists discuss the questions below in this video.

Cytokines, such as IL-12, IL-23, and type I interferons drive psoriasis through TYK2-dependent Th1 and Th17 signaling. How do these pathways promote inflammation and keratinocyte proliferation? Which pathway do you believe is most critical to suppress for psoriasis control?

Vinay Mehta, MD: Board-certified allergist/immunologist with Allergy & Asthma Associates of Southern California

  Lebrikizumab Benefits AD Patients With Skin of Color, With Vinay Mehta, MD

2025 American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology (ACAAI) Scientific Annual Meeting 

in Orlando, Florida, Vinay Mehta, MD, board-certified allergist/immunologist with Allergy & Asthma Associates of Southern California, discussed new phase 3b open-label data evaluating lebrikizumab in patients with skin of color who have moderate to severe 

Atopic dermatitis in patients with skin of color can present uniquely, with more frequent dyspigmentation, papular or lichenified lesions, and prominent extensor involvement. Erythema, which is central to AD severity scoring, may be more difficult to detect, increasing the risk of underestimating disease activity. Limited representation in training materials and clinical trials further complicates accurate assessment and treatment.

“ADmirable was a unique study,” Mehta told HCPLive during an interview at the conference. “We studied a patient population exclusively of skin of color.”

The sample included participants aged ≥ 12 years who self-defined as African American or Black (~75%), Latino or Hispanic (~20%), or Asian (~11%). Participants all had moderate to severe AD, defined as Fitzpatrick skin types IV–VI.

Participants received lebrikizumab, an IL-13–targeting biologic, beginning with a 500-mg loading dose at weeks 0 and 2, followed by 250 mg every 2 weeks through week 16. Responders then transitioned to 250 mg every 4 weeks, while non-responders continued biweekly dosing.

Among the 90 enrolled patients, clinical responses were consistent with results from pivotal trials. By week 16, 70% achieved EASI-75, and roughly half reached clear or almost-clear skin. Responders were subsequently reduced to monthly dosing.

Patient-reported outcomes revealed similarly robust improvements. Good disease control, as measured by the Atopic Dermatitis Control Tool, increased from 12% at baseline to 64% at week 16. Most patients reported little or no disease-related bother, meaningful reductions in itch frequency, and substantial improvement in emotional burden. Work-productivity data showed a 50% reduction in total work impairment, highlighting the functional impact of treatment beyond clinical scores.

While the open-label design and limited study duration are noteworthy constraints, the findings reinforce that lebrikizumab offers meaningful clinical, symptomatic, and quality-of-life benefits in a population frequently overlooked in AD research.

“We can glean important information from this study, and it challenges clinicians like myself to really think about these questions beyond just skin clearance, to think about some of these aspects of quality of life…productivity and impairment,” Mehta said.

Mehta, V. Lebrikizumab Improves Disease Control and Work Activity in Atopic Dermatitis Patients With Skin of Color. Presented at ACAAI 2025 in Orlando, Florida, from November 6 – 10.

Alexis A, Moiin A, Waibel J, et al. Efficacy and Safety of Lebrikizumab in Adult and Adolescent Patients with Skin of Color and Moderate-to-Severe Atopic Dermatitis: Results from the Phase IIIb, Open-Label ADmirable Study. 

. 2025;26(5):803-817. doi:10.1007/s40257-025-00970-8

New ACAAI 2025 data show lebrikizumab improves disease control, quality of life, and work productivity in patients of skin of color with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis.


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Dermatology

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Atopic Dermatitis

Atopic Dermatitis condition center page, audiences can find a variety of coverage mediums for medical news and updates, including articles, video interviews, podcasts, and breaking news on dermatitis research, treatment, and drug development.

Lebrikizumab Benefits AD Patients With Skin of Color, With Vinay Mehta, MD

Michael Schilsky, MD, is a professor of medicine and medical director of adult liver transplant at Yale-New Haven Transplantation Center.

Early Treatment May Protect Cognitive Function in Wilson Disease, With Michael Schilsky, MD

New 5-year data from the Wilson Disease Registry indicate patients without severe neurologic involvement can show meaningful cognitive gains after early detection and therapy.

Michael Schilsky, MD, a professor of medicine and medical director of adult liver transplant at Yale-New Haven Transplantation Center, presented the findings at the 

American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) The Liver Meeting 2025

, and reported patients with abnormal baseline cognition saw significant MoCA improvement over time when treated early in the disease course.

WD is a rare inherited multisystem disorder affecting approximately 1 in 30,000 individuals worldwide. The disease primarily impacts hepatic and neurological function and stems from pathogenic mutations in the ATP7B gene, which impairs the liver’s ability to excrete excess copper. Copper accumulation damages the liver and brain, and without daily treatment, the disease is fatal.

In patients, early signs of excess copper may present as neurologic (40-45%), hepatic (50-60%), or psychiatric (10-20%) symptoms. Although the liver is affected first, neurological symptoms are the initial presentation in about 40% of patients. Before diagnosis, 20% of patients have already seen a psychiatrist, and some report psychological or behavioral changes such as depression, anxiety, impulsivity, and aggression.

“When you see patients with severe neurologic impairment or other mental health concerns, the key questions become: How intact are they, and what is the effect of therapy?”

“It was important to examine this prospectively. Using a multinational, multicenter registry that collected detailed data, we evaluated cognition, quality of life, neurologic function, and liver function to understand baseline cognition and how it changes over time.”

The study conducted a cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and the Unified Wilson’s Disease Rating Scale (UWDRS), a disease-specific tool evaluating neurologic symptoms. With a possible score of 30, a MoCA score of ≥ 26 is considered normal and <26 is considered abnormal, indicating cognitive impairment. Participants were classified by phenotype at diagnosis: asymptomatic (21%), hepatic (30%), or neurologic (37%).

The cohort included 138 patients with a mean baseline MoCA score of 26.3. A total of 44 patients (32%) had MoCA scores <26 (mean 22.9, 3), distributed as 21% asymptomatic, 30% hepatic, and 37% neurologic.

Investigators found a negative correlation between MoCA and UWDRS at baseline (r = -0.47, 

 = <.001, Pearson), and patients with MoCA <26 had significantly higher UWDRS scores (

Over 2-3 years, investigators observed an average 1-point increase in MoCA (

= .001), suggesting cognitive improvement with treatment. In a longitudinal follow-up at 2, 3, 4, and 5 years (

< .01), only patients with baseline MoCA <26 showed significant improvements in cognitive function. Phenotype-adjusted analysis revealed the hepatic group experienced a 0.6-1.8 MoCa increase from baseline.

Patients with less severe neurologic disease showed less Central Nervous System injury at baseline, which was associated with a greater likelihood of cognitive improvement over time.

“Overall, cognition is preserved in most patients and remains stable with treatment,” said Schilsky. “And importantly, with treatment, patients without severe neurologic impairment are likely to improve.”

Schilsky, M, Ulcay A, Maras H, et al. Cognitive function in patients with Wilson disease: prospective analysis from the Wilson Disease Registry study. Presented at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) The Liver Meeting 2025. Washington, DC. November 7-11, 2025.

Disease W. Wilson Disease - Wilson Disease Association. Wilson Disease Association. Published August 13, 2021. Accessed November 14, 2025. 

https://wilsondisease.org/do-i-have-wilson-disease/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16684019432&gbraid=0AAAAADN9hfNH0Qklo1N7KKX3qO0womQLJ&gclid=CjwKCAiAw9vIBhBBEiwAraSATuJdNxoP57_7zjL0DUUF0B9EceR3whBrdSIFmutmQSsj2E3BL4nQkhoC-xwQAvD_BwE

Data presented at AASLD 2025 show patients without severe neurologic involvement can achieve cognitive improvement with early detection and therapy.


Hepatology

Neurology

Neurology condition center page is a comprehensive resource for clinical news and insights on nervous system disorders. This page consists of interviews, articles, podcasts, and videos on the research, treatment and development of therapies for Alzheimer's disease, brain injury, PTSD, and more.

Tim Smith joined the MJH Life Sciences team as an assistant editor for HCPLive in August 2022. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in political science, working in multimedia journalism as a staff writer prior to joining MJH. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, watching TV, listening to podcasts, and rock climbing. You can contact him at 

LEO Pharma A/S has announced positive topline key findings on tralokinumab in adults with 

 and moderate-to-severe hand involvement who are also candidates for systemic treatments.

The November 17 announcement released by LEO Pharma was the result of a 32-week analysis of the phase 3b ADHAND trial (NCT05958407), evaluating patients with atopic dermatitis and disease involvement affecting the hands.

 Atopic dermatitis on the hands is a disabling skin disease known to impact patients' quality of life and occupational performance significantly.

“The hands are a hard-to-treat area and atopic dermatitis with hand involvement is often very burdensome for patients to live with," presenting author Teodora Festini, of Global Medical Affairs at LEO Pharma, said in a statement.

"While the genitals and head-and-neck are also high burden areas, the hands are particularly susceptible to external triggers, which can make disease on the hands especially challenging to manage."

In an analysis highlighted in the company's release, over half of individuals with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis were shown to have atopic dermatitis on the hands. Among these individuals, close to 60% were shown to have high body surface area impacted by atopic dermatitis, defined as 10% body surface area (BSA) or higher.

Tralokinumab, which is marketed under the tradename Adbry within the US, was designed as a high-affinity fully human monoclonal antibody. It binds to and inhibits the interleukin (IL)-13 cytokine, a cytokine which plays a notable role in the immune and inflammatory processes underlying atopic dermatitis.  To assess a 300 mg dosing regimen of tralokinumab, the ADHAND study was conducted.

ADHAND is phase 3b, interventional, adaptive, placebo-controlled clinical study assessing tralokinumab administered every 2 weeks as a monotherapy, comparing the drug with placebo in subjects living with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis on the hands who are also candidates for systemic drugs. Following the initial 16 weeks double-blinded treatment period, all of those involved as participants were given open-label, 300 mg tralokinumab every 2 weeks for a total of 16 weeks.

The aim of the open label treatment period up to 32 weeks is to assess the medication's efficacy on extent and severity of the disease, pain, pruritus, sleep, and health-related quality of life. The investigative team also sought to explore tralokinumab's safety and tolerability with continued use. Secondary endpoints at the 32-week mark include the proportion of subjects attaining an Investigator’s Global Assessment for atopic dermatitis on the hands (IGA-AHE) score of 0 or 1.

Additionally, the team looked at other endpoints such as reductions of participants' itch and pain scores of ≥4 points assessed by the Hand Eczema Symptom Diary (HESD) from baseline to the 32-week mark and at least 75% improvement from the point of baseline on Hand Eczema Severity Index (HECSI) scores at the 32-week mark. The safety endpoint of the trial is the number of treatment-emergent adverse events.

The study concludes at the 32-week mark, followed by a safety follow-up period from Week 32 - Week 36. The analysis was shown to have met all key primary and secondary endpoints at the 16-week mark, as well as all endpoints at 32 weeks. Detailed results of this Week 32 analysis will be submitted for scientific presentation and publication on a later date.

Overall, tralokinumab therapy showed statistically significant improvements compared to placebo in all primary and key secondary endpoints such as clear or almost clear skin, itch and pain at Week 16 in the ADHAND study.

 Investigators noted an early onset of effect observed from the 2-week mark in the study's primary endpoint.

A statistically significant difference was also observed by the investigators in the proportion of trial subjects who attaining an IGA-AHE score of 0/1 – clear or almost clear skin on the hands at Week 16 (40.0% of subjects (N=156) as opposed to 10.6% for placebo (N=79)). Tralokinumab was also shown to have achieved a statistically significant reduction at Week 16 in both pruritus and pain versus placebo, with 47.3% of tralokinumab treated individuals showing a ≥4 point HESD itch reduction versus 20.7% on placebo, and 45.3% attaining a ≥4 point reduction in HESD pain versus 13.3% on placebo.

These findings suggest tralokinumab use led to meaningful improvement in these key disease symptoms. Additionally, the ADHAND investigators found 41.7% of those in the tralokinumab cohort attained HECSI90 as opposed 10.9% in the placebo cohort. This difference of 30.8 percentage points would suggest a substantial and clinically meaningful disease improvement at the 16-week mark.

The drug was generally found to be well tolerated, with no new safety signals being observed. This aligns with the known overall safety profile of tralokinumab. The majority of adverse events observed were shown to be non-serious, mild or moderate in severity, and consistent between tralokinumab (60.3%) and placebo (60.8%).

These positive Week 16 findings were presented at the 15th Georg Rajka International Symposium on Atopic Dermatitis (ISAD), held from October 24 – 26, 2025, in Melbourne, Australia.

LEO Pharma Announces Positive Topline 32-Week Key Results in ADHAND Trial. LEO Pharma. November 17, 2025. 

https://www.leo-pharma.com/media-center/news/2025-adhand-32w

ClinicalTrials.gov. National Library of Medicine (U.S.). A 32-week Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Tralokinumab in Subjects With Moderate-to-severe Atopic dematitis on the hands Who Are Candidates for Systemic Therapy (ADHAND). Identifier: NCT05958407. 

https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05958407

Silverberg JI, Simpson B, Abuabara K, et al. Prevalence and burden of atopic dermatitis involving the head, neck, face, and hand: A cross sectional study from the TARGET-DERM AD cohort. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2023;89(3):519-528.

Articles

LEO Pharma's phase 3b ADHAND trial demonstrated positive results for tralokinumab in treating moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis with hand involvement. The study showed significant improvements in skin clarity, itch, and pain at 16 weeks, with continued efficacy at 32 weeks. Tralokinumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting IL-13, was well-tolerated, with no new safety concerns. The trial's findings suggest tralokinumab offers meaningful symptom relief and improved quality of life for patients with this challenging condition, with results presented at the 15th Georg Rajka International Symposium on Atopic Dermatitis.

These topline results from the ADHAND trial highlight tralokinumab’s use in adults with atopic dermatitis with moderate-to-severe hand involvement.

Tralokinumab Improves Atopic Dermatitis with Hand Involvement at 32 Weeks

Viet Le, DMSc, PA-C, is a preventive cardiology PA at Intermountain Health and the former president of the Academy of Physician Associates in Cardiology.

Le discusses the increased risk of mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with both PAD and AF.

Cardiology

Cardiology condition center page is a comprehensive resource for clinical news and insights on cardiovascular and cardiometabolic diseases. This page consists of interviews, articles, podcasts, and videos on the research, treatment and development of therapies for heart disease and cardiovascular events, as well as associated diabetes, renal failure, and more...

Heart Failure

The HCPLive heart failure page is a resource for medical news and expert insights on HF. This page features expert-led coverage, articles, videos and research on the therapies and development of treatments for heart disease, reduced and preserved ejection fraction, and more.

Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease

Atrial Fibrillation in Peripheral Arterial Disease Increases MACE Risk, with Viet Le, DMSc, PA-C

The FDA acceptance of Arcutis's supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) was announced for roflumilast cream 0.3% (Zoryve).

Plaque Psoriasis

The HCPLive plaque psoriasis page is a resource for medical news and expert insights on psoriasis. This page features expert-led coverage, articles, videos and research on the therapies and development of treatments for psoriatic disease, and more.

FDA News

FDA Accepts sNDA for Roflumilast Cream 0.3% in Children Ages 2 to 5 with Psoriasis

Exploration of using tools such as UAS7 and DLQI to quantify disease severity, predict poor response, and guide timely therapy escalation.

Video Series

Escalating Therapy in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria Management

Lindsay Ackerman, MD, explores novel agents and the potential of biomarkers to personalize treatment selection in psoriasis.

Emerging Therapies in Psoriasis and the Role of Biomarkers in Precision-Based Care

Review of updated CSU treatment algorithms and the balance between standardized and individualized care approaches.

Recognizing and Assessing Disease Burden in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria

Lindsay Ackerman, MD, critiques traditional clinical trial models and proposes ways to improve their relevance to real-world patient populations.

Reforming Trial Designs to Better Address Unmet Needs in Psoriasis Care

Ryan Livingston joined the MJH Life Sciences team in March of 2025, shortly after graduating from TCNJ with a bachelor’s degree in English. He enjoys creative writing, reading, and scuba diving. He can be reached at rlivingston@mjhlifesciences.com.

Data from 4 of the most impactful trials presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2025.

Dyslipidemia

AHA 2025 Conference Recap: 4 Late-Breaking Trials to Know

This Fall Clinical Dermatology Conference interview features Peter Lio, MD, discussing takeaways from several of his sessions at the meeting.

Discussing New Topical Drugs for Atopic Dermatitis in Younger Patients, With Peter Lio, MD

Emily Lau, MD, is a professor of cardiology at Harvard University

Lau discusses the use of virtual shared medical appointments for increasing access to cardiovascular care in a traditionally underserved population.

Broadening Access to Cardiovascular Care for Female Patients, With Emily Lau, MD

Victoria Johnson joined the MJH Life Sciences in 2020 and has written for NeurologyLive, CGTLive, and now HCPLive. You can reach her at vjohnson@mjhlifesciences.com

A compilation of 13 trials presented as late-breaking data at ACR Convergence 2025.

Rheumatology

Rheumatology condition center page is a comprehensive resource for clinical news and insights on rheumatologic disease. This page consists of interviews, articles, podcasts, and videos on the research, treatment and development of therapies for arthritis, gout, nr-AxSpA, and more.

Lupus

Psoriatic Arthritis

On the HCPLive psoriatic arthritis page, resources on the topics of medical news and expert insight into PsA can be found. Content includes articles, interviews, videos, podcasts, and breaking news on arthritis, and more.

Osteoarthritis

On the HCPLive osteoarthritis page, resources on the topics of medical news and expert insight into OA can be found. Content includes articles, interviews, videos, podcasts, and breaking news on degenerative joint disease, and more.

Latest News

Current Standard of Care and Treatment Options in Psoriasis

Cytokine Pathways and Their Impact on Plaque Psoriasis

Lebrikizumab Benefits AD Patients With Skin of Color, With Vinay Mehta, MD

Early Treatment May Protect Cognitive Function in Wilson Disease, With Michael Schilsky, MD

Tralokinumab Improves Atopic Dermatitis with Hand Involvement at 32 Weeks