Adalimumab: in psoriatic arthritis

Adalimumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody, is a tumour necrosis factor antagonist that has been investigated for efficacy in psoriatic arthritis, based on well-established use of the drug in rheumatoid arthritis. In well-controlled Phase III trials, adalimumab (40 mg administered subcutaneously every other week) has shown efficacy in adult patients with psoriatic arthritis who had an inadequate response to previous treatment with NSAIDs (24-week ADEPT trial; n = 313) or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (12-week study; n = 100). In these trials, adalimumab recipients experienced a significantly greater improvement in arthritis response (p < 0.001 in the ADEPT trial, and p