To evaluate the long-term effects of tapinarof 1% cream, a novel plaque psoriasis treatment, investigators of the phase 3 PSOARING 1 and 2 trials invited participants to continue treatment for 1 year. In the follow-up trial, PSOARING 3, they found that the effectiveness of tapinarof improved during extended treatment. Their findings were presented in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

The PSOARING 3 trial enrolled 763 out of 833 eligible patients who completed 12 weeks of treatment in the previous trials to receive 40 weeks of further treatment with 4 weeks of follow-up. The authors noted that treatment was administered until patients reached complete disease clearance, defined as a Physician Global Assessment (PGA) score of 0.

According to their report, 40.9% of the participants achieved complete disease clearance. The researchers also observed that 58.2% of patients who had a PGA score of 2 or more at baseline were able to achieve a score of 0 to 1 during extended tapinarof treatment. Patients who achieved a PGA score of 0 were off of therapy for a mean of 130.1 days.

The investigators stated that no new safety signals were recorded when compared with the previous trials. The most common adverse events were folliculitis (22.7%), contact dermatitis (5.5%), and upper respiratory tract infection (4.7%). In conclusion, the authors suggested that the novel aryl hydrocarbon receptor modulator could be an alternative to steroid-based therapies for patients with plaque psoriasis.

Reference: Strober B, Stein Gold L, Bissonnette R, et al. One-year safety and efficacy of tapinarof cream for the treatment of plaque psoriasis: results from the PSOARING 3 trial. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2022;87(4):800-806. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2022.06.1171

Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190962222022198