Features - Raptiva should no longer be prescribed

Doctors in the European Union should not issue further prescriptions for Raptiva (efalizumab), from Serono, because of safety concerns. Raptiva has been authorised in the European Union (EU) since September 2004 to treat adult patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis. Patients currently on this medication should not stop taking it but make an appointment with their health professional and discuss alternative treatments.

The reasons behind this advice are cases of illness and deaths linked to the drug. In the past 5 months three cases of a progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) have occurred, two of which in the US and one in Germany. PML is a rare brain infection that usually leads to severe disability or death.  First, two patients were diagnosed, both over 70 years of age, who were treated for more than 4 years. Then a much younger patient, 47, was discovered to have been affected after he used Raptiva for 3 years.

The EMEA (European Medicines Agency) who investigates the benefits and risks of drugs has in view of these developments found that in this case the risks outweigh the benefits and that doctors should not issue any new prescriptions for Raptiva.

 

Written Website Manager TalkPsoriasis

Sources: press release of the EMEA; press release of  Merck Seron