Secukinumab effective in moderate-to-severe psoriasis
(HealthDay)—For patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, the fully human anti-interleukin-17A monoclonal antibody, secukinumab, is effective, according to research published online July 9 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Richard G. Langley, M.D., from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, and colleagues assessed secukinumab in two phase 3 trials involving patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. The Efficacy of Response and Safety of Two Fixed Secukinumab Regimens in Psoriasis (ERASURE) trial involved 738 patients and the Full Year Investigative Examination of Secukinumab versus Etanercept Using Two Dosing Regimens to Determine Efficacy in Psoriasis (FIXTURE) study involved 1,306 patients. Patients were randomized to 300 mg or 150 mg subcutaneous secukinumab or placebo, or to etanercept in the FIXTURE study.
The researchers found that in both studies the proportion of patients who had a reduction of 75 percent or more from baseline in the psoriasis area-and-severity index score was higher with each secukinumab dose versus placebo or etanercept. The rates were 81.6 and 71.6 percent, respectively, with 300 and 150 mg of secukinumab, compared to 4.5 percent with placebo in the ERASURE study. In the FIXTURE study, the rates were 77.1 and 67.0 percent, respectively, with 300 and 150 mg of secukinumab, compared to 44.0 percent with etanercept and 4.9 percent with placebo (P < 0.001 for secukinumab doses versus comparators).
"Secukinumab was effective for psoriasis in two randomized trials, validating interleukin-17A as a therapeutic target," the authors write.
The study was funded by Novartis, the manufacturer of secukinumab.
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