Tacalcitol ointment is an efficacious and well tolerated treatment for psoriasis

Aim To demonstrate the efficacy and tolerability of tacalcitol ointment on plaque psoriasis. Subject Vitamin D3 derivatives are now on world trial for plaque psoriasis treatment and we submit the results of a multicenter Italian trial (13 University and Hospital centers) with topical tacalcitol ointment, one of these new derivatives, which has less effect on calcium metabolism. Method A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, left-right compared 6 weeks clinical study was performed using tacalcitol ointment (4 μg/g) and betamethasone valerate ointment (0. 1%) on 76 Italian subjects with plaque-type (vulgar) psoriasis. Results 63 subjects completed the treatment. The overall evaluation of our data gave a roughly equal improvement of plaque psoriasis with both types of treatment. Conclusions A new drug for topical treatment of plaque psoriasis vulgaris is now available: tacalcitol ointment.