Since Otezla has only been on the market for about a year (as far as I know), it's hard to find a lot of discussion/information from those who have been taking it for a long time. I am a Remicade patient, considering switching to Otezla. Remicade is effective for my Ps & PSA, but not cost effective. I am currently on a grant for Remicade and avoiding insurance, because the annual cost to be on Remicade with insurance would end up being about $8000 or more. Whether it's wise to be off insurance or not ... it has been the only affordable option for me for awhile< especially since nothing else seems to work. But I would love to actually have insurance, for the sake of my overall health ... and the changes in healthcare law are now penalizing me for being without it ... which creates another unavoidable expense. Since Otezla would be more affordable (prescription around $30 per month!) if I got onto my wife's insurance policy, this might be the opportunity to get insurance again. But ... does Otezla work? What do those of you taking it have to say?
I started a similar thread about Otezla back in September 2015 when I started on it (http://discussion.livingwithpsoriaticarthritis.org/forum/topics/new-to-ote...). I also shared my experiences in a few comments on other threads. (you can search for Otezla and/or Apremilast in the search box in the upper right of the screen).
Long story short...it took some sticking with. The nauseousness and other GI issues that can accompany the medicine in the beginning are not insignificant but I found I could tolerate them with OTC meds (Zantac worked really well). It takes up to 16 weeks to fully see the benefits of Otezla. I knew it was kicking in far before then but it was spotty until about week 11/12 (sometimes my fatigue would be better but swelling unaltered, other times the opposite was true). And the GI/nausea issues went away by about week 8.
So, for me, it worked. But I take it in conjunction with Humira which had not been working well during a very long and very aggressive flare. Rather than switch my rheumy suggested adding Otezla. Both meds are covered by health insurance and I qualify for the prescription assistance program from each manufacturer so I pay very little ($15 a month?) out of pocket. If you're eligible for those prescription assistance programs (free to join) I heartily suggest taking advantage of them.