OBJECTIVES: Biologics changed treatment paradigm of many auto-immune diseases since their launch in early 2000s. These products were particularly relevant for Psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory skin disease with significant impact on patients’ quality of life.

With several products entering this market, it is critical to understand current clinical practice and patient response in the real-world setting.

This study aims at identifying Psoriasis patients followed by IQVIA patient data, analyzing treatment dynamics and estimate the average treatment duration and cost in 2016.

METHODS: IQVIA Portugal receives anonymized longitudinal patient data from 16 different hospitals - a record of every pharmaceutical product dispensed in hospitals since 2011. This panel covers approximately 40% of all treated patients.

Auto-immune biologics (AIB) have several indications in dermatology, rheumatology and gastrointestinal-related diseases. As IQVIA Portugal patient data does not discriminate diagnosis, Psoriasis patients were selected by analyzing the relevant medical ward in which these products were dispensed. Patient data enabled the analysis of the entire treatment course, from naive to drop-out, monitoring switch and wash-out periods, assessing treatment length, compliance, real dosage, intake frequency and treatment costs.

RESULTS: During 2016, IQVIA followed 895 Psoriasis treated patients. On a yearly basis, 14% of the followed patients were bio-naïve and only 5% changed their treatment to another biologic.

Psoriasis patients seem to persist longer on 2nd treatment than on 1^st, as median treatment durations were ~12 months in 1st and ~19 months in 2nd regimens.

In 2016, the average annual treatment cost per patient was 11.591 ±1.012 euros.

CONCLUSIONS: AIB re-shaped severe Psoriasis management and are now widely used, significant increasing treatment costs.

Portuguese Healthcare system is struggling financially to provide high-quality care, being critical to fully understand treatment dynamics, patients’ response and treatment costs.

This real-world information is an important tool to shape clinical practice and enable a better budget management.