New products will help people suffering from psoriasis. However, they have to pay for them.

DENÍK (September 23, 2009)

The efficacy rate of the new treatment is 80%. But it is expensive and patients have to pay for this treatment themselves.

For Nikola, 9, from Central Bohemia, psoriasis started as an itchy rash. However, her condition was getting worse every day. Still, the first symptoms of psoriasis can sometimes be very simple.

“She started the corticoid treatment and we also used various ointments, baths, etc. But nothing helped. In fact, it was even getting worse. At the end, after having tried the classical treatment, we went to the Faculty Hospital Bulovka, Prague, where we signed up for the study program of Dr. Michaels product family. These products were really what helped. Over the course of ten weeks we could see an improvement of almost 100%” says Nikola’s mother, Petra, regarding the new treatment method.

Successful tests

Her daughter was lucky, as she was one of the few dozen children selected for the trial treatment. Children were testing products invented by an Australian Medical Scientist Michael Tirant. These products give hope for recovery to psoriasis patients. In the Czech Republic, there are about 3% people with this disease. The average success rate in a study that took place in the Czech Republic and Slovakia was 82%.

The Head Physician of the Children’s Dermatology Department from the Faculty Hospital Motol, MUDr. Štěpánka Čapková, also confirms the positive results of Dr. Michaels product family. “The treatment was successful in 80% of our children’s patients. However, parents of a child or a teenage patient have to make sure their child follows the instructions and applies the three products morning and evening as recommended”, says children’s dermatologist MUDr. Čapková.

In the Czech Republic the products are still registered as cosmetics, therefore patients have to pay for them. “The products have not yet been registered as pharmaceuticals so they are not covered by insurance. That makes them accessible to only a small group of patients, although they could help a large number of them. The price of one set is approximately 2000 CZK. One set lasts about a month. We try to convince the producer of Dr. Michaels product family to conduct a large clinical study. This would increase the chance of having this treatment covered by insurance companies”, says Prof. Dr. Jana Hercogová from the Dermatology- Cypridology Clinic of the Faculty Hospital Bulovka.

Three in a hundred

Psoriasis is chronic inflammatory disease. In the Czech Republic it affects approximately 3% of the total population. This disease is genetically predisposed. About every third patient inherited it from parents. It affects not only areas of body or scalp, but can also affect joints. It mostly occurs in people’s teens, however, about 2% of all patients suffer psoriasis before they reach two years of age. At the moment psoriasis is usually treated with corticosteroids, vitamin D3 derivatives, tar, Ictiol or so called Emoliences.

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