Innovation Pharmaceuticals Inc (IPIX)

[reasondeep]

Hello Karin,

I have found a wealth of information to share.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory condition. It can get pretty bad - that much we all know, but what is the impact of this?

First of all, let me state, even though I am not a physician I am fairly well versed in biochemistry. To my understanding chronic inflammation, in general, is always going to have systemic effects. This is by virtue of the fact blood is the manner in which inflammatory byproducts are disposed. Blood is constantly circulating and therefore, with chronic inflammation, inflammatory molecules will also circulate.

Although I have not yet found articles of interest on other medical problems psoriasis may lead to, it is not a stretch to make the association that severe, chronic, wide-spread inflammation will stress the body in ways that lead to further ailments.

Okay, well, I decided to research a bit more and I have found many points of vital importance. Let us begin with quality of life and work productivity impairment in those afflicted with this disease.




(click to view): Quality of Life and Work Productivity Impairment among Psoriasis Patients: Findings from the National Psoriasis Foundation Survey Data 2003–2011. Published online 2012 December 28.

This article’s first line says much. “Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the skin, nails, and the joints. In addition to the physical impact, psoriasis can have a profound impact on patients’ psychosocial wellbeing.”

The article goes on to state patient’s suffer from a variety of issues including social isolation, stigmatization, and depression. In addition, as if that wasn’t bad enough, “patients with severe psoriasis were found to have significant impairment of work productivity.”

To keep this a bit short, see following images (all images are from the above mentioned source).








Note: The following chart is from the proportion of people not working from the above chart.




From the conclusion:
“This study reveals that psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis have considerable and deleterious economic consequences on patients. In this study, among patients who were unemployed at the time of the survey, 92% were not working due solely to psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis. Among working psoriasis patients, nearly half of them regularly missed work due either to their psoriasis or treatments related to psoriasis. These data regarding work status impairment provide further impetus for designing treatments and regimens that are flexible and patient-centered such that patients can remain productive in the workforce.”

According to psoriasis.org, upwards to 7.5 million people in America alone have psoriasis. The images above show 92% of the 12% that is not working is not working solely due to psoriasis.

12% of 7.5 million is 900,000 people
92% of 900,000 is 828,000 people NOT in the workforce SOLELY due to psoriasis.

That means of the 12.2 million unemployed Americans (using bureau of labor statistics) 6.787% of those people are not working due to psoriasis.

That seems pretty important economically speaking. I'm not a finance/economics guy, feel free to the point out if I did some obtuse number crunching.





(click to view): Prognosis after percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with psoriasis: a cohort study using Danish nationwide registries. Published online 2012 September 24. - note this study was based upon 36,989 men and 14,763 women from the Danish nationwide registry.

The background portion of the article states psoriasis has a similar inflammatory mechanism of action to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Furthermore the article states psoriasis is associated with other cardiovascular risk factors. Note there is not a correlation being made here of psoriasis and cardiovascular risk factors, more so that psoriasis is associated with other problems that are known to lead to cardiovascular risk. (Calling that a correlation is a bit hazardous in my opinion. DrFeelGood please let me know if you feel otherwise, you must be quite an expert at this, so I leave that up to you. Doubt it matters much to shareholders, but I err on the side of caution so as not to make misleading statements or "pump" at the expense of other's suffering.)

Which cardiovascular risk factors are associated with psoriasis? Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and dyslipidemia.

"Recent results have indicated that patients with psoriasis face a poorer prognosis following myocardial infarction compared to patients without psoriasis."

Conclusion
“This first study of the post-PCI prognosis in patients with psoriasis demonstrated an increased risk of mortality and adverse cardiovascular events in patients with severe psoriasis compared to patients without psoriasis. These findings emphasize the increased burden of cardiovascular disease in patients with psoriasis and they call for further studies in this area of research.”

Important funding statement: AWA has received research grants and/or consultant honoraria from Abbott, Amgen, and Janssen. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.





(click to view): Anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) drugs for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis: an indirect comparison meta-analysis 2012 December 3.

As psoriasis can lead to psoriatic arthritis in up to 30% of psoriasis sufferers, this is an important condition that is secondary to psoriasis. This article was quite hefty to go through. It is intense, but incredibly thorough. I will post a couple images here too. This article compared newer drugs for efficacy based on multiple studies using pretty strict selection criteria for studies - you can find this information in the article. I did not read through this article fully - I don't have the time for that - however, based on my perceptions this is a very thorough analysis.

"Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is an inflammatory disease affecting joints and connective tissues. PsA affects up to 30% of individuals with psoriasis, a chronic skin condition affecting 1%–2% of the general population. It can be a destructive disabling joint disease, with the severity increasing over time. There are no cures for PsA and so the focus of treatment has been on controlling symptoms and preventing damage to joints."

I will post a table of expected results shortly, but first see this table which describes how outcome is measured. This is quite important, and will make the outcomes table not look so foreign and intimidating. Remember this is for psoriatic arthritis which occurs in 30% of people with psoriasis. I do not believe Prurisol helps this condition, but please correct me if I'm wrong. I am only assuming. I figured these results are still indicative of the sort of suffering people have to go through due to a condition that directly stems for psoriasis.

Description of how outcomes are measured.


Expected Outcomes
-The bold abbreviations refer to the drugs, see article for drug names.
-Read decimal points as percentages



Acknowledgements: This study was sponsored by Merck, Sharp, & Dohme, UK.




(click to view): Increased Risk of Diabetes Mellitus and Likelihood of Receiving Diabetes Mellitus Treatment in Patients With Psoriasis. 2012 Sep 1

I won't break this article down as the title speaks for itself.
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I hope this information helps all of us here. I had to keep reminding myself I'm writing for readers who are likely not experienced reading this sort of thing so I did try to make it user friendly but I expect I made some slips. I did not take the time to post it so others don't understand portions of it - so if you feel as though you don't understand something do ask!

If you all find this useful for Prurisol, please keep bumping it as I would like others to have this information too. I realize this is not directly about Prurisol, but it does certainly indicate the necessity of this drug and why it, in addition to Kevetrin, is also a prized possession in its own right. The C word has a large psychological impact which may dwarf the disease Psoriasis. It is very distasteful thinking to begin thinking about which disease is the bigger one. In fact that is futile and illusory as both can and do bring significant suffering to those afflicted.

The market should, and eventually will, price in the valuation of Prurisol. Currently it is standing off to the side. I would go so far as to say Prurisol is to CTIX as CTIX is to mainstream investors. We shouldn't lose sight of what we have going here because of the dramaticism that surrounds the word cancer. It's a cold and cruel disease. Let us hope Kevetrin battles it better than the current options. Psoriasis is a cold and cruel disease as well. Let us hope Prurisol cures it.

May CTIX take the medical treatment of these two diseases to the next level.