APREMILAST

[ripperh]

Hey All,

I am on a trial for Apremilast which is akin to a biologic but comes in tablet form. Has anyone else tried this?

Also does anyone get  numbness from the PA? I am not sure if my numb little finger is due to the condition or to the Apremilast.

R

[alec101]

Hi

My right little finger was numb for months recently - all the pain generalised throughout my hand.

[Darren.]

no i havent tried it but it is one drug im following as its showing some promise also some concerns over cancer issues, its still early days i belive its on phase 3 of clinical trials and has some way to go still, another couple of years of trials


 

[jkath]

Hi

How did you get on the trial? I never seem to hear of any trials up here (north Scotland) and wondered how you go about getting on one?

[Juls]

I'm on the Apremilast trial.  Am about two months in.  Don't know if it's a placebo or actual meds.  My joints feel good, but my skin still looks like c**p.  The scale on my plaques is not as thick - but none of the plaques have disappeared.

[jkath]

how did you get on the trial? via your doctor?

[ripperh]

Hi

How did you get on the trial? I never seem to hear of any trials up here (north Scotland) and wondered how you go about getting on one?

I'm Australian. I just looked it up online for psoriatic arthritis clinical trials and then asked my GP to refer me. Most of these GPs are so busy they need to be directed. I find male GPs tend to be a little less understanding than the female ones, though of course there are some bitches from hell who'd fit right in at a Soviet era Gulag.

Ripper

[Juls]

If anyone is interested, I've been blogging about my experience on the Apremilast trial.  My blog can be found at:  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login.  Hope it's helpful.

Julie

[Juls]

Just an update - I've withdrawn from the Apremilast trial.  At week 24, my doctor requested of Celgene (the manufacturer) that they allow me to add Methotrexate to my protocol and do combo therapy.  Many of her other patients in the trial are doing combo therapy with Methotrexate and are doing very well (they started the trial already on MTX).

Celgene denied the request, so I withdrew.  Am glad I documented and photo-documented my time on the trial, as I never would have remembered the exact size of my plaques.  Having the photos, taken at intervals, was key to really looking at efficacy of the drug.  Unfortunately, from a skin perspective, I ended the trial significantly worse than how I began.  Plaques were 2-3x larger, plaques had merged with other plaques (that were not there at the start of the trial) and my joints were about the same - maybe a slight improvement.

I wish I had been on MTX from the start (but had gone off of it months before due to pneumonia) - or that Celgene had approved my request to add it - but that did not happen.  I know that many of my doctor's patients are having great success with the drug.  Unfortunately, I was not one of those patients.

Julie

[juzzy]

I'm from Australia. Been on the clinical trial for 7 weeks and while I don't know whether i have apremilast or the placebo, my psoriasis has improved %80! its unbelievable  . I haven't had an major itch for weeks and i don't scratch till I bleed anymore. The downside are some minor side effects which do go away in time. Diarrheoa, headaches, stomach cramps. But id take those any-day then the constant itch and flakes everywhere!! 7 weeks in and its going well!