Topical tacrolimus is not effective in chronic plaque psoriasis. A pilot study.

Background: Cyclosporine for the treatment of psoriasis constitutes a new approach. Alternative systemic cyclosporine derivatives have been studied to find an immunosuppressive drug with fewer adverse effects. Tacrolimus is one of these new immunosuppressive drugs. Systematically, it has been proven effective in treating psoriasis. A topical formulation of tacrolimus is attractive because it has fewer adverse effects and is useful for a large group of patients. We report for the first time on the efficacy of nonocclusive topical tacrolimus in the treatment of psoriasis.

Observations: After a washout phase of 2 weeks, patients were randomized to receive 0.005% calcipotriol ointment twice daily, placebo ointment once daily, or 0.3% tacrolimus ointment once daily. One psoriatic plaque was treated with a surface area of 40 to 200 cm2. Efficacy was estimated using the local psoriasis severity index. The reduction in the local psoriasis severity index score after 6 weeks was 62.5% in the calcipotriol group, 33.3% in the tacrolimus group, and 42.9% in the placebo group.

Conclusions: There was no statistically significant difference between the efficacy of tacrolimus and placebo ointment (P = .77). Calcipotriol ointment, applied twice daily, had a better effect than tacrolimus ointment and placebo ointment once daily.