medwireNews: Study results presented at the EULAR 2018 meeting in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, indicate that improvements in joint and skin symptoms seen with risankizumab treatment are maintained for 24 weeks among patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
In accordance with the week 16 results, Philip Mease (Swedish Medical Center and University of Washington, Seattle, USA) and co-investigators found that a significantly higher proportion of the 143 patients treated with various doses of the interleukin (IL)-23p19 inhibitor achieved at least a 20% improvement in ACR criteria (ACR20) at the 24-week follow-up compared with the 42 placebo-treated patients, at 48.3% versus 31.0%.
Moreover, ACR50 and 70 response rates, as well as the proportion of patients achieving at least a 75%, 90%, or 100% improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index score, were all significantly greater among risankizumab-treated patients.
There was also evidence for inhibition of radiographic progression; risankizumab-treated patients experienced an average 0.2-point reduction in modified Sharp/van der Heijde score, compared with an average 0.6-point increase for those given placebo, a significant difference.
“We've seen good results in both the skin disease as well as the musculoskeletal manifestations” of PsA with both risankizumab and another IL-23 inhibitor, guselkumab, Mease told medwireNews.
He added that “in this relatively short observation period, the safety profile of risankizumab has been good,” and is supported by the favorable safety profile of the drug in psoriasis patients.
Mease reported that serious adverse events “were few” over the 24-week period, with two serious infections occurring in patients treated with risankizumab. Two cardiac events occurred, neither of which were considered to be related to the study drug.
Risankizumab “was well tolerated with no new or unexpected safety findings,” summarized Mease.
And he concluded that “all of this qualifies the drug, in my opinion at least, to proceed [onto] phase III for testing in a larger number of patients.”
medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare. © 2018 Springer Healthcare part of the Springer Nature group
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