This is a brief news story about a drug company announcement of clinical trial results. Because patients as well as investors will read the story, it’s important that the story address details such as cost, side effects and limitations of the trial, even if only briefly. Instead, this story mostly just rehashes the company news release.
Not only is psoriasis common, but when it’s more advanced it’s difficult to treat. It also can be quite distressing for many patients because it can be quite noticeable in public, itchy, and painful.
The market forces involved are substantial. One source estimates the global psoriasis drug market will top $20 billion by 2022. The stakes are high–not only for the drug companies and investors, but also for patients who live with the disease. Journalists should do more than repeat what a drug company says about a trial–they should scrutinize the claims.
A cost comparison of the two drugs highlighted in the study — Johnson & Johnson’s Tremfya and Cosentyx from Novartis AG — wasn’t provided and would have been helpful.
The list price of a 100-mg dose of Tremfya (to be given once every two months) is about $10,000. For Cosentyx, around $4,700 (unclear if dosing is equivalent to Tremfya).
Regardless, drug costs for severe cases of psoriasis can quickly get into the tens of thousands of dollars for some patients.
From the story:
After 48 weeks of therapy, 84.5 percent of patients treated with Tremfya showed 90 percent improvement in disease symptoms [as measured by the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI)], while only 70 percent of those treated with Cosentyx showed similar results.
It’s also noted that Cosentyx had a “slightly more rapid onset of response.” This is just enough to merit a satisfactory rating.
What’s not mentioned is that superiority of Tremfya was NOT demonstrated in five secondary endpoints. (As noted in this news release from Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.) Also, we also think it would be valuable to tap an independent source to answer: How clinically significant is it that 14.5% of patients did better on Janssen’s Tremfya?
Since Tremfya is known to weaken the immune system, it places patients at an increased risk of bacterial, fungal, and viral infections.
People taking this drug, and other immunosuppressives like it, must be screened for tuberculosis, since it could dramatically accelerate the disease.
None of this was mentioned.
The results come from this Janssen-sponsored Eclipse trial — a phase 3, multi-center, randomized, double blind comparison of Tremfya, and the competing drug Cosentyx (from Novartis AG). However, the story provided scant details on the study, so readers would be unable to establish the quality of the evidence without going and looking up the study details. Was it randomized and blinded? What were the limitations? Has the trial been peer reviewed and published? Those are the details we’re looking for.
No disease mongering.
The story does well to inform readers that plaque psoriasis is fairly common, affecting about 7.5 million Americans.
Two glaring problems here.
First, the only quote used in this very short story is directly lifted (without attribution) from the news release. No independent sources are included.
Furthermore, it says it comes from the lead investigator of the study (true), but fails to mention he’s a paid consultant for Janssen.
Another weakness of this story is that alternatives are not mentioned. In addition to a multitude of other immunosuppressant drugs, there are a host of treatments available for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, including:
Light therapy, Vitamin A & D derivatives, as well as other medications that don’t work via immune system suppression.
Also, bear in mind, these are symptomatic treatments only, since there is no known cure for psoriasis.
Availability is implied but it should have been made more clear when these drugs received FDA approval, and what they’re approved for.
There are a number of other biologic drugs that treat psoriasis by altering the immune system (this makes sense, because psoriasis is an autoimmune condition), but Tremfya blocks a specific part of the immune system that has not been targeted before. In other words, it is “first in class.” The article does not touch on this.
The only quote used is drawn directly from the news release, without attribution.
Systematic, Criteria-Driven
Monday at #ADA2021, an infectious disease epidemiologist, a journalist, and a researcher shared perspectives on communication of risk in the era of COVID-19: http://ow.ly/ROfR30rMeE7 @AstleyCM @garyschwitzer @berthahidalgo @ADA_DiabetesPro
Shoutouts to @susan_bewley @drkevinknopf @MichaelBaum11 in this call for more than fawning coverage from press releases for these kinds of stories.
Also, linked history inside goes back 5 years just on Grail apparently trying to become Holy Grail. https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1408849696416841731
Comments
Please note, comments are no longer published through this website. All previously made comments are still archived and available for viewing through select posts.
Our Comments Policy
But before leaving a comment, please review these notes about our policy.
You are responsible for any comments you leave on this site.
This site is primarily a forum for discussion about the quality (or lack thereof) in journalism or other media messages (advertising, marketing, public relations, medical journals, etc.) It is not intended to be a forum for definitive discussions about medicine or science.
We will delete comments that include personal attacks, unfounded allegations, unverified claims, product pitches, profanity or any from anyone who does not list a full name and a functioning email address. We will also end any thread of repetitive comments. We don”t give medical advice so we won”t respond to questions asking for it.
We don”t have sufficient staffing to contact each commenter who left such a message. If you have a question about why your comment was edited or removed, you can email us at feedback@healthnewsreview.org.
There has been a recent burst of attention to troubles with many comments left on science and science news/communication websites. Read “Online science comments: trolls, trash and treasure.”
The authors of the Retraction Watch comments policy urge commenters:
We”re also concerned about anonymous comments. We ask that all commenters leave their full name and provide an actual email address in case we feel we need to contact them. We may delete any comment left by someone who does not leave their name and a legitimate email address.
And, as noted, product pitches of any sort – pushing treatments, tests, products, procedures, physicians, medical centers, books, websites – are likely to be deleted. We don”t accept advertising on this site and are not going to give it away free.
The ability to leave comments expires after a certain period of time. So you may find that you’re unable to leave a comment on an article that is more than a few months old.
You might also like