medwireNews: Findings from the second part of the LILAC trial suggest that BIIB059, a monoclonal antibody targeting blood dendritic cell antigen 2, improves skin outcomes for patients with active cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE).
These results support those from part 1 of the phase 2 study, also reported by medwireNews, which demonstrated an improvement in active joint counts among systemic lupus erythematosus patients treated with the agent.
Speaking at the ACR Convergence 2020 virtual meeting, presenting author Victoria Werth (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA) said that at present, “there are no targeted therapies that have been developed for CLE, and efficacy of standard of care […] is limited.”
Werth and colleagues found that CLE patients treated with subcutaneous BIIB059 at a dose of 50 mg (n=26), 150 mg (n=25), or 450 mg (n=48) at weeks 0, 2, and 4, and every 4 weeks thereafter experienced significantly greater improvements in Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Disease Area and Severity Index (CLASI) scores from baseline to week 16 than those given placebo (n=33). She reported that there was a dose-response relationship, with least squares mean improvements in CLASI scores of 38.8%, 47.9%, and 42.5% for the 50 mg, 150 mg, and 450 mg dose groups, respectively, compared with 14.5% for the placebo arm.
In all, 71.7% of participants given BIIB059 and 66.7% of those given placebo experienced adverse events, the majority of which were mild or moderate in severity. Werth said that rates of infections and infestations were “slightly higher” in the BIIB059 arm, at 34.3% versus 30.3% in the placebo group.
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