Not true, Dr. Jerry. To compete with Otezla, Prurisol only needs to be better than the type of psoriasis represented by the current Phase 2b trial. All the other psoriatic types can come later, just like ESTEEM 1 and 2 came later for Celegene.
41% (36/88) of patients achieved PASI 75 at week 16 in Otezla's Phase 2b trial. That's the bar for P.
"FINDINGS: 89 patients were randomly assigned apremilast 10 mg, 87 apremilast 20 mg, and 88 apremilast 30 mg twice daily; 88 were assigned placebo. At week 16, PASI-75 was achieved in five patients (6%) assigned placebo, ten (11%) assigned apremilast 10 mg, 25 (29%) assigned 20 mg, and 36 (41%) assigned 30 mg. Apremilast 10 mg did not differ significantly from placebo in achievement of the endpoint (odds ratio 2·10; 95% CI 0·69-6·42); for both apremilast 20 mg (6·69; 2·43-18·5; p<0·0001) and apremilast 30 mg (11·5; 4·24-31·2; p<0·0001), the differences from placebo were significant. Most adverse events (96%) were mild or moderate; at least 5% of patients had nausea, upper respiratory tract infection, diarrhoea, nasopharyngitis, headache, arthralgia (placebo), gastroenteritis, or dyspepsia. Eight serious adverse events occurred (three each, placebo and apremilast 20 mg; two, apremilast 30 mg); none were judged to be related to apremilast. Apremilast had no apparent effect on the results of haematological, urinalysis, immunological or inflammation, serum chemistry, or electrocardiographic tests."