ABSTRACT
A multicenter, double-blind clinical evaluation of three formulations of betamethasone dipropionate was conducted in 258 patients with severe psoriasis. The results obtained after a standard two-week treatment period clearly indicated that a new glycol preparation produced significantly greater improvement than the ointment and cream formulations currently in clinical use. Twenty-one percent of the patients treated with the new formulation had clearing of all signs and symptoms of psoriasis within the two-week span. Sixty-eight percent of those treated with this new preparation reported complete disappearance of scaling, the major cosmetically disturbing sign of the disease. Adverse drug effects were uncommon and were of a limited dermatologic nature. They were equally distributed among treatment groups
Subject(s)
Betamethasone/analogs & derivatives , Psoriasis/drug therapy , Administration, Topical , Betamethasone/administration & dosage , Betamethasone/adverse effects , Betamethasone/therapeutic use , Clinical Trials as Topic , Double-Blind Method , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Propylene Glycols/administration & dosage , Propylene Glycols/adverse effects , Propylene Glycols/therapeutic useABSTRACT
A double-blind, multicentered, cooperative study performed by twelve investigators with 195 patients with chronic psoriasis was undertaken to compare the relative efficacy of betamethasone dipropionate in ointment and cream formulations. After one week of the two week study, those patients treated with the ointment preparation experienced a significantly greater decrease in the severity of psoriatic signs and symptoms and a greater frequency of complete remission. This study verifies vasoconstriction assay data and more rigorously supports the medical opinion that betamethasone dipropionate and possibly other corticoids in ointment formulation are superior to cream formulations in the early treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis.
