Novel topical cream delivers safe and effective alternative to traditional psoriasis phototherapy

Abstract

In today's environment of shrinking reimbursement and coverage for many health care procedures, phototherapy for psoriasis has experienced a major decline. Once hailed as the cornerstone of psoriasis therapy, the increasing cost and demanding treatment regimen has resulted in low compliance, limiting access to this safe and effective mode of treatment. We have previously reported on the development and in vitro evaluation of a topical cream that selectively filters solar radiation to deliver narrow-band ultraviolet B. Here, we present the results of a pilot study in psoriasis patients. After an average of 38 sessions, all patients in the treatment arm responded to therapy. In particular, 43% of the treatment group experienced complete clearance and the remainder experienced at a minimum 50% lesion clearance. In contrast, none of the patients in the placebo arm experienced more than 20% lesion clearance. Our preliminary results demonstrate that the novel topical cream could provide a safe, effective, and convenient alternative to artificial light phototherapy.

Management of chronic pruritus with a UV filtering topical cream

“…Phototherapy using the UV biasing cream has been shown to compare favorably to NB-UVB in the treatment of vitiligo and psoriasis (10)(11)(12). Phototherapy using the UV biasing cream has been shown to compare favorably to NB-UVB in the treatment of vitiligo and psoriasis (10)(11)(12).…”

“…Unfortunately, successful treatment with phototherapy is limited by patients' compliance and costs. In previous works, we have reported the development of a topical cream, which selectively filters solar UV (10)(11)(12). Although, the majority of the UV content of solar radiation is nontherapeutic for skin conditions, this natural source of radiation can be exploited to treat skin disorders if the radiation is biased toward therapeutic wavelengths (7)(8)(9).…”

“…The sun generates an abundance of free, easily accessible UV radiation. The cream contains a combination of UVabsorbing molecules, which, unlike a sunscreen, biases radiation from the sun toward a therapeutic wavelength of 311 nm (11). In previous works, we have reported the development of a topical cream, which selectively filters solar UV (10)(11)(12).…”

“…Although, the majority of the UV content of solar radiation is nontherapeutic for skin conditions, this natural source of radiation can be exploited to treat skin disorders if the radiation is biased toward therapeutic wavelengths (7)(8)(9). In previous works, we have reported the development of a topical cream, which selectively filters solar UV (10)(11)(12). The cream contains a combination of UVabsorbing molecules, which, unlike a sunscreen, biases radiation from the sun toward a therapeutic wavelength of 311 nm (11).…”

“…In previous works, we have reported the development of a topical cream, which selectively filters solar UV (10)(11)(12). The cream contains a combination of UVabsorbing molecules, which, unlike a sunscreen, biases radiation from the sun toward a therapeutic wavelength of 311 nm (11).…”