Interleukin-17A is considered to be central to the pathogenesis of psoriasis. We evaluated secukinumab, a fully human anti-interleukin-17A monoclonal antibody, in patients with moderate-to-severe ...plaque psoriasis.
In two phase 3, double-blind, 52-week trials, ERASURE (Efficacy of Response and Safety of Two Fixed Secukinumab Regimens in Psoriasis) and FIXTURE (Full Year Investigative Examination of Secukinumab vs. Etanercept Using Two Dosing Regimens to Determine Efficacy in Psoriasis), we randomly assigned 738 patients (in the ERASURE study) and 1306 patients (in the FIXTURE study) to subcutaneous secukinumab at a dose of 300 mg or 150 mg (administered once weekly for 5 weeks, then every 4 weeks), placebo, or (in the FIXTURE study only) etanercept at a dose of 50 mg (administered twice weekly for 12 weeks, then once weekly). The objective of each study was to show the superiority of secukinumab over placebo at week 12 with respect to the proportion of patients who had a reduction of 75% or more from baseline in the psoriasis area-and-severity index score (PASI 75) and a score of 0 (clear) or 1 (almost clear) on a 5-point modified investigator's global assessment (coprimary end points).
The proportion of patients who met the criterion for PASI 75 at week 12 was higher with each secukinumab dose than with placebo or etanercept: in the ERASURE study, the rates were 81.6% with 300 mg of secukinumab, 71.6% with 150 mg of secukinumab, and 4.5% with placebo; in the FIXTURE study, the rates were 77.1% with 300 mg of secukinumab, 67.0% with 150 mg of secukinumab, 44.0% with etanercept, and 4.9% with placebo (P<0.001 for each secukinumab dose vs. comparators). The proportion of patients with a response of 0 or 1 on the modified investigator's global assessment at week 12 was higher with each secukinumab dose than with placebo or etanercept: in the ERASURE study, the rates were 65.3% with 300 mg of secukinumab, 51.2% with 150 mg of secukinumab, and 2.4% with placebo; in the FIXTURE study, the rates were 62.5% with 300 mg of secukinumab, 51.1% with 150 mg of secukinumab, 27.2% with etanercept, and 2.8% with placebo (P<0.001 for each secukinumab dose vs. comparators). The rates of infection were higher with secukinumab than with placebo in both studies and were similar to those with etanercept.
Secukinumab was effective for psoriasis in two randomized trials, validating interleukin-17A as a therapeutic target. (Funded by Novartis Pharmaceuticals; ERASURE and FIXTURE ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT01365455 and NCT01358578, respectively.).
Anti-interleukin (IL) therapies have emerged as a major treatment for patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis. This article reviews the up-to-date results of pivotal clinical trials targeting the ...interleukins used for the treatment of psoriasis, including IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-17, IL-20, IL-22, IL-23, IL-36 and bispecific biologics IL-17A/tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). Cytokines involved in the circuits of psoriasis inflammation without ongoing clinical trials are also mentioned (IL-9, IL-13, IL-15, IL-16, IL-18, IL-19, IL-21, IL-24, IL-27, IL-33, IL-35, IL-37, and IL-38).
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that affects approximately 100 million people worldwide, and is a disease that can be ameliorated by anti-cytokine treatment. We aimed to compare the efficacy and ...safety of risankizumab with adalimumab in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.
IMMvent was a phase 3, randomised, double-blind, active-comparator-controlled trial completed at 66 clinics in 11 countries. Eligible patients were aged 18 years or older with moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 using interactive response technology to receive 150 mg risankizumab subcutaneously at weeks 0 and 4 or 80 mg adalimumab subcutaneously at randomisation, then 40 mg at weeks 1, 3, 5, and every other week thereafter during a 16-week double-blind treatment period (part A). For weeks 16–44 (part B), adalimumab intermediate responders were re-randomised 1:1 to continue 40 mg adalimumab or switch to 150 mg risankizumab. In part A, participants and investigators were masked to study treatment. Randomisation was stratified by weight and previous tumour necrosis factor inhibitor exposure. Co-primary endpoints in part A were a 90% improvement from baseline (PASI 90) and a static Physician's Global Assessment (sPGA) score of 0 or 1 at week 16, and for part B was PASI 90 at week 44 (non-responder imputation). Efficacy analyses were done in the intention-to-treat population and safety analyses were done in the safety population (all patients who received at least one dose of study drug or placebo). This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02694523.
Between March 31, 2016, and Aug 24, 2017, 605 patients were randomly assigned to receive either risankizumab (n=301, 50%) or adalimumab (n=304, 50%). 294 (98%) of patients in the risankizumab group and 291 (96%) in the adalimumab group completed part A, and 51 (96%) of 53 patients re-randomised to risankizumab and 51 (91%) of 56 patients re-randomised to continue adalimumab completed part B. At week 16, PASI 90 was achieved in 218 (72%) of 301 patients given risankizumab and 144 (47%) of 304 patients given adalimumab (adjusted absolute difference 24·9% 95% CI 17·5–32·4; p<0·0001), and sPGA scores of 0 or 1 were achieved in 252 (84%) patients given risankizumab and 252 (60%) patients given adalimumab (adjusted absolute difference 23·3% 16·6–30·1; p<0·0001). In part B, among adalimumab intermediate responders, PASI 90 was achieved by 35 (66%) of 53 patients switched to risankizumab and 12 (21%) of 56 patients continuing adalimumab (adjusted absolute difference 45·0% 28·9–61·1; p<0·0001) at week 44. Adverse events were reported in 168 (56%) of 301 patients given risankizumab and 179 (57%) of 304 patients given adalimumab in part A, and among adalimumab intermediate responders, adverse events were reported in 40 (75%) of 53 patients who switched to risankizumab and 37 (66%) of 56 patients who continued adalimumab in part B.
Risankizumab showed significantly greater efficacy than adalimumab in providing skin clearance in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. No additional safety concerns were identified for patients who switched from adalimumab to risankizumab. Treatment with risankizumab provides flexibility in the long-term treatment of psoriasis.
AbbVie and Boehringer Ingelheim.
Abstract Background Recent findings in psoriasis research have shown that psoriasis is frequently associated with systemic comorbidities. Objectives This study aims to describe the epidemiology of ...psoriasis and the prevalence of comorbidities in patients with psoriasis in Taiwan. Methods Patients who had at least one outpatient visit or admission with ICD-9-CM diagnosis code 696.0-1 in the Taiwan National Health Insurance (NHI) claims database during 2006 were identified as psoriasis cases. The cases were further classified into moderate to severe psoriasis (sPsO) for those who had previously received systemic therapy during the study period and mild psoriasis (mPsO) for those who had not. The cases were matched in a 1:4 ratio with controls from a sample cohort of 997,771 enrolees representative of the Taiwan population. Matching variables included age, gender and residential area. Prevalence of comorbidities was assessed using prevalence relative risk (RR) based upon a Cox proportional regression model. Results 51,800 psoriasis cases were identified (prevalence = 0.235%; mean age = 46.4 ± 18.6; male:female = 1.6:1) and 17.5% of cases were sPsO type. Psoriasis was associated with a significantly increased prevalence ratio (RR; 95% confidence interval) for hypertension (1.51; 1.47, 1.56), diabetes (1.64; 1.58, 1.70), hyperglyceridaemia (1.61; 1.54, 1.68), heart disease (1.32; 1.26, 1.37), hepatitis B viral infection (1.73; 1.47, 2.04), hepatitis C viral infection (2.02; 1.67, 2.44), rheumatoid arthritis (3.02; 2.68, 3.41), systemic lupus erythematosus (6.16; 4.70, 8.09), vitiligo (5.94; 3.79, 9.31), pemphigoid (14.75; 5.00, 43.50), pemphigus (41.81; 12.41, 140.90), alopecia areata (4.71; 2.98, 7.45), lip, oral cavity and pharynx cancer (1.49; 1.22, 1.80), digestive organs and peritoneum cancer (1.57; 1.41, 1.74), depression (1.50; 1.39, 1.61), fatty liver (2.27; 1.90, 2.71), chronic airways obstruction (1.47; 1.34, 1.61), sleep disorder (3.89; 2.26, 6.71), asthma (1.29; 1.18, 1.40), and allergic rhinitis (1.25; 1.18, 1.33). Conversely, psoriasis was not associated with an increased risk of Crohn's disease. Conclusions Psoriasis was associated with a significantly increased risk of comorbidities, especially for those patients with moderate to severe disease. These health associations should be taken into consideration when evaluating the burdens of psoriasis and designing effective treatment plans.
Generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) is a rare, life-threatening, inflammatory skin disease characterized by widespread eruption of sterile pustules. Interleukin-36 signaling is involved in the ...pathogenesis of this disorder. Spesolimab, a humanized anti-interleukin-36 receptor monoclonal antibody, is being studied for the treatment of GPP flares.
In a phase 2 trial, we randomly assigned patients with a GPP flare in a 2:1 ratio to receive a single 900-mg intravenous dose of spesolimab or placebo. Patients in both groups could receive an open-label dose of spesolimab on day 8, an open-label dose of spesolimab as a rescue medication after day 8, or both and were followed to week 12. The primary end point was a Generalized Pustular Psoriasis Physician Global Assessment (GPPGA) pustulation subscore of 0 (range, 0 no visible pustules to 4 severe pustulation) at the end of week 1. The key secondary end point was a GPPGA total score of 0 or 1 (clear or almost clear skin) at the end of week 1; scores range from 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating greater disease severity.
A total of 53 patients were enrolled: 35 were assigned to receive spesolimab and 18 to receive placebo. At baseline, 46% of the patients in the spesolimab group and 39% of those in the placebo group had a GPPGA pustulation subscore of 3, and 37% and 33%, respectively, had a pustulation subscore of 4. At the end of week 1, a total of 19 of 35 patients (54%) in the spesolimab group had a pustulation subscore of 0, as compared with 1 of 18 patients (6%) in the placebo group (difference, 49 percentage points; 95% confidence interval CI, 21 to 67; P<0.001). A total of 15 of 35 patients (43%) had a GPPGA total score of 0 or 1, as compared with 2 of 18 patients (11%) in the placebo group (difference, 32 percentage points; 95% CI, 2 to 53; P = 0.02). Drug reactions were reported in 2 patients who received spesolimab, in 1 of them concurrently with a drug-induced hepatic injury. Among patients assigned to the spesolimab group, infections occurred in 6 of 35 (17%) through the first week; among patients who received spesolimab at any time in the trial, infections had occurred in 24 of 51 (47%) at week 12. Antidrug antibodies were detected in 23 of 50 patients (46%) who received at least one dose of spesolimab.
In a phase 2 randomized trial involving patients with GPP, the interleukin-36 receptor inhibitor spesolimab resulted in a higher incidence of lesion clearance at 1 week than placebo but was associated with infections and systemic drug reactions. Longer and larger trials are warranted to determine the effect and risks of spesolimab in patients with pustular psoriasis. (Funded by Boehringer Ingelheim; Effisayil 1 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03782792.).
Background Secukinumab, a fully human anti-interleukin-17A monoclonal antibody, has shown superior efficacy to etanercept with similar safety in moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (FIXTURE study). ...Objective We sought to directly compare efficacy and safety of secukinumab versus ustekinumab. Methods In this 52-week, double-blind study ( NCT02074982 ), 676 subjects were randomized 1:1 to subcutaneous injection of secukinumab 300 mg or ustekinumab per label. Primary end point was 90% or more improvement from baseline Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score (PASI 90) at week 16. Results Secukinumab (79.0%) was superior to ustekinumab (57.6%) as assessed by PASI 90 response at week 16 ( P < .0001). The 100% improvement from baseline PASI score at week 16 was also significantly greater with secukinumab (44.3%) than ustekinumab (28.4%) ( P < .0001). The 75% or more improvement from baseline PASI score at week 4 was superior for secukinumab (50.0%) versus ustekinumab (20.6%) ( P < .0001). Percentage of subjects with the Dermatology Life Quality Index score 0/1 (week 16) was significantly higher with secukinumab (71.9%) than ustekinumab (57.4%) ( P < .0001). The safety profile of secukinumab was comparable with ustekinumab and consistent with pivotal phase III secukinumab studies. Limitations The study was not placebo-controlled and of short-term duration. Conclusions Secukinumab is superior to ustekinumab in clearing skin of subjects with moderate to severe psoriasis and improving health-related quality of life with a comparable safety profile over 16 weeks.
Juvenile generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) is rare and often resistant to conventional systemic therapy such as methotrexate, retinoic acid and cyclosporin A. GPP can be induced by deficiency of ...interleukin (IL)-36 receptor antagonist (DITRA). No standardized guidelines are available for juvenile GPP or DITRA, and a uniformly safe and effective biologic agent has not been identified. However, multiple biologics approved for use in plaque-type psoriasis have also been used in GPP. Herein, we report a case of a 6-year-old Taiwanese boy with GPP and homozygous mutation at c.115+6T>C within the IL-36 receptor antagonist (IL36RN) gene, who was treated successfully with secukinumab after failure of prior methotrexate, acitretin, cyclosporin A, etanercept and adalimumab. Similar to two previously reported non-adult cases of GPP successfully treated with secukinumab, our case also demonstrated a history of repeated treatment failures with several conventional oral systemic agents and biologics. Different from these two cases, however, ours is the first of juvenile GPP successfully treated with secukinumab monotherapy, without using other systemic agent concurrently during the use of secukinumab.