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Integrative medicine for plaque psoriasis combining Chinese herbal medicine with conventional therapy.

A feasibility study of Integrative medicine for plaque psoriasis combining Chinese herbal medicine with conventional therapy on Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) score and quality of life in people with mild to moderate plaque psoriasis

Status
Completed
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ANZCTR
Registry ID
ACTRN12614000493640
Acronym
IMPPS (Integrative Medicine for Psoriasis Pilot Study)
Enrollment
30
Registered
2014-05-12
Start date
2015-03-17
Completion date
2015-11-30
Last updated
2020-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

Psoriasis currently has no cure. Whilst new therapies manage severe psoriasis well mild-moderate conditions have evidence of poor management. Chinese medicine regularly treats psoriasis successfully in a clinical scenario. This study will test a previously researched herbal formula and evaluate its efficacy when integrated with standard conventional therapy (calcipotriol). The study will randomize participants to either a herbal medicine plus calcipotriol group or a placebo plus calcipotriol group and compare changes in symptom severity, quality of life and blood markers for changes after 12 weeks of the intervention. It will also assess the safety of integrating the two therapies and acceptability of the treatment as well as assess any significant difference between health resource utilization of the two groups.

Interventions

ARM 1: Chinese herbal botanical granulated extract PSORI-CM01 (YXBCM01) packaged as 5.5g per sachet and mixed with water administered orally twice daily for 12 weeks - Calcipotriol 0.005% (50 microgram/g) cream, (30 g tubes) administered daily to affected body surface areas for 12 weeks according to American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) guidelines (1% surface area coverage = 0.5 fingertip units) Both interventions to commence together. Adherence monitored via daily patient diary and weekly a

ARM 1: Chinese herbal botanical granulated extract PSORI-CM01 (YXBCM01) packaged as 5.5g per sachet and mixed with water administered orally twice daily for 12 weeks - Calcipotriol 0.005% (50 microgram/g) cream, (30 g tubes) administered daily to affected body surface areas for 12 weeks according to American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) guidelines (1% surface area coverage = 0.5 fingertip units) Both interventions to commence together. Adherence monitored via daily patient diary and weekly assessor consultation.

Sponsors

RMIT University
Lead SponsorUniversity

Study design

Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 70 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

1 People aged between 18 years and 70 years; 2 People with at least 12 months history of psoriasis vulgaris symptoms diagnosed by physician and where calcipotriol would be appropriate treatment 3 Patient informed consent

Exclusion criteria

1 Pregnant or breast feeding females; 2 Type of psoriasis other than vulgaris; 3 PASI score >12 or <7 4 Patients taking systemic drugs or phototherapy for psoriasis within 4 weeks prior to screening; 5 Taking topical drug treatment for psoriasis within 2 weeks prior to screening 6 Other severe disorders; 7 Known disorders of calcium metabolism (high blood calcium levels); 7 Known kidney function disorders. 8 Taking calcium, vitamin D supplements or vitamin D-like medicines. 9 Known sensitivity to Chinese herbs. 10 Known sensitivity to calcipotriol 11 Unwilling/unable to cease other topical and systemic psoriasis related medication use for the duration of the trial.

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ANZCTR · Data processed: Mar 7, 2026