Is Ustekinumab suitable for treating psoriasis in young children? And what are the side effects?

Doctor's Answer

Thank you for the question.

Ustekinumab is a biologic treatment fo psoriasis. It is approved for treating children above the age of 12 years with psoriasis. Ustekinumab is a very effective treatment for patients with moderate to severe psoriasis.

It is given as a subcutaneous injection at day 1, 1 month later and then every 3 months during the maintenance phase. Side effects of the ustekinumab injection include injection site reaction and tiredness and cold-like symptoms.

Most notably, it can suppress the immune system as it blocks specific cytokines (IL 12/23) which regulate the immune system. Utekinumab has been approved for treatement of psoriasis in Singapore since 2009. Registry data has shown that ustekinumab is safe with no major safety signals.

I have treated many psoriasis patients with Ustekinumab and have found it to be very effective and well tolerated.

There are 2 other biologics that have approval for treatment of psoriasis in children. They are Adalimumab and Etanercept.

You can discuss about these options further with your dermatologist.

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