Alefacept Amevive Psoriasis Drug

Alefacept Amevive psoriasis drug is the first biologic that was approved by the FDA for treating moderate/severe plaque psoriasis in adult candidates for phototherapy or systemic therapy.

Alefacept (a-LEF-a-sept) is produced with the use of recombinant DNA technology.

The course of treatment with this drug is 12-weeks, with 1 injection per week. The manufacturer recommends waiting for at least 12 weeks before the next treatment course. The manufacturer also states that the second treatment course improves the symptoms of psoriasis yet more.

There are two ways to administer the Alefacept Amevive psoriasis drug: intramuscular injections (15 mg of alefacept per capsule) and intravenous injections (7.5 mg of alefacept per capsule).

Alefacept is generally administered in the doctor's office, but there are some rare cases when relatives of the patients are allowed to perform the injections for the patients at home.

How It Works

Amevive makes the body’s natural killer cells destroy pathogenic over-active T cells, while sparing the majority of the normal T cells, which can significantly improve plaque psoriasis and provide extended remission.

Amevive psoriasis drug reduces the counts of the specific T cells (T lymphocytes - white blood cells). Therefore, the counts of these cells need to be normal prior to starting the treatment, and they need to be monitored every 1-2 weeks during the treatment course. If the counts of the aforementioned white blood cells become too low, the treatment needs to be temporarily discontinued, until the counts return to the norm.

Reduced lymphocyte counts could increase the chances of developing an infection/malignancy. If you have any suspicious signs, immediately inform your doctor. However, in most cases Amevive is well-tolerated.

Effectiveness

Studies of the patients with around 10% of skin involvement showed 50%+ reduction of the symptoms 60 days after the start of therapy. The results were maintained for around 2-3 months on average (up to 1 year in some cases).

The medications that were allowed to be used at the time of the study were mild topical steroids. The medications that were not allowed to be used were other systemics and phototheraphy.

Notes

Alefacept Amevive psoriasis drug should not be used in people with an HIV infection.

The location of the injection needs to be changed each time, with the new injections located at least 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) away from old ones.

It is important to use this medication regularly, in order to get the most benefit from it, such as on the same day each week.

Notify your doctor if your condition does not improve, or if it worsens.