New hope for psoriasis sufferers as new drug Skyrizi added to PBS
Australians living with severe chronic psoriasis have been given renewed hope with the introduction of a new “game changing” drug on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme. Psoriasis sufferer Anne-Maree Brown said it has transformed her life.
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It is scaly, itchy, painful and unsightly condition but a new drug listed on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme today will offer hope to Australia’s estimated 450,000 psoriasis sufferers.
The new drug, Skyrizi, is for Australians living with severe chronic plaque psoriasis.
Psoriasis is a genetically predisposed condition with an immune system response component that leads to patches of dry skin and scales that bleed easily if scratched.
It can be psychologically distressing and people with the condition often experience lack of self-esteem and depression.
“It causes really red, inflamed, raised plaques on your skin which drop scale all over the place,” dermatologist, Professor Saxon Smith, told The Sunday Telegraph.
“It can affect your scalp, your body, your hands, your feet and even the bits downstairs, and it can be painful and itchy and it is highly visual.
“It can be quite debilitating. There are very high rates of depression and suicide with psoriasis because it is such a visual problem.
“You know, people will shy away from standing next to people on the bus and some will even take a dustbuster with them on holidays to hoover up the flakes of skin they leave behind to hide the fact they have this condition.”
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Skyrizi is in a class of drugs known as biologics, which target parts of the immune system called interleukins that cause the skin reaction.
“These biologic treatments have given us a great opportunity to make vast improvements in people’s lives, it can be a game changer for them.
“They can get a quality of life they never knew they could have. They shy away, they cover up, and don’t go to the beach and don’t do the things we all take for granted,” Prof Smith said.
Castlecrag mother of two Anne-Maree Brown has been living with the condition since she was a baby.
“It first showed up on my torso as a baby and then into my teens onto my scalp and on my limbs and, after I had my first daughter in 2007, I have up to 70 per cent of my body covered,” the 46-year-old said.
“You go through a flare and It’s very painful, it feels like ant bites. You feel you want to itch your skin and the scales, if you touch them you end up bleeding.
“Having children had a traumatic effect on the body, and within four to six weeks of having my first baby I had a chronic outbreak and found it difficult to enjoy motherhood.
“I nearly had to give up breastfeeding.
“It felt like unfair and you feel like you have an epidermal Siamese twin attached to you and always explaining to people what it is, because people look at you like you don’t take care of yourself. Until the 1850s it was considered a form of leprosy, people would look at you like you are rotting.”
But biologic drugs have transformed her life.
“I have no psoriasis. It sounds over the top, but they changed my life. I have my dream job, left a bad marriage and the energy I now have is wonderful,” she said.