Moderate to Severe Psoriasis Symptoms Improved With Anti-IL-17A Biologics

The use of anti-interleukin (IL)-17A biologics may improve symptom control in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis, according to study results presented at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), held from March 17 to 21, 2023, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Researchers compared the effectiveness of anti-IL-17A biologics (ixekizumab, secukinumab) with other approved biologics in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis. The primary objective was to determine the percentage of biologic-naive and biologic-experienced patients who achieved Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) scores of 90 or 100 and/or static Physician Global Assessment (sPGA) scores of 0 or 1 at week 12.

Patients included in the analysis had moderate to severe psoriasis for at least 6 months and were initiating (n=1127) or switching (n=645) biologic (or biosimilar) treatment during routine medical care. Of biologic-naive and biologic-experienced patients, the mean age was 44.2 and 47.3 years, and 6.3% and 35.3% had psoriatic arthritis, respectively. Men comprised 60% of the overall population.

At week 12, PASI scores of at least 90 and/or sPGA scores of 0 or 1 among biologic-naive patients were achieved by 76.6% of those who received anti–IL-17A biologics and 61.1% of those who received other biologics. For biologic-experienced patients, 65% of those who received anti–IL-17A biologics and 56% of those who received other biologics achieved PASI scores of at least 90 and/or sPGA scores of 0 or 1.

The percentage of patients who received anti-IL-17A biologics vs other biologics and achieved PASA scores of at least 100 by week 12 was also lower among those in the biologic-experienced group (39.2% vs 24.7%) compared with those in the biologic-naive group (32.4% vs 20.0%).

Limitations of this study include the lack of both comparative analysis and adjustments for measured confounders.

Researchers also noted that the “[g]rouping of nonanti-IL-17A biologics into a single category may not reflect variabilities within the class, particularly individual drug cohorts with small sample sizes.”

Disclosure: This study was sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company, and multiple study authors declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of authors’ disclosures.