A Dose Finding Study of AEB071 Assessing Psoriasis Area and Severity Index in Patients With Plaque Psoriasis

Inclusion Criteria: * Moderate and Severe Plaque psoriasis diagnosed for at least 12 months (with or without psoriatic arthritis as comorbidity)that requires systemic therapy * Severity of disease meeting all of the following three criteria: * PASI score of 10 or greater * Total Body Surface Area (BSA) affected by plaque psoriasis of 10% or greater * Investigator's Global Assessment (IGA) score of 3 or greater Exclusion Criteria: * Hematological abnormalities * Heart rate \< 50 or \> 90 bpm when resting for 5 minutes * Family history of long QT syndrome * History of tachyarrhythmia * History of conduction abnormality i.e., PR \> 200 msec, 2nd or 3rd degree AV block, complete left or right branch bundle block, pre-excitation syndrome * Uncontrolled or unstable angina pectoris; history of myocardial infarction within the previous 12 months * Known history of congestive heart failure * History of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or cardiac ablation * History of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) * Implanted cardiac pacemaker or defibrillator * History of malignancy of any organ system * Current guttate, generalized erythrodermic, or pustular psoriasis * Current drug associated psoriasis Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria may apply