medwireNews: Phase IIb trial results reported at the EULAR 2019 congress in Madrid, Spain, suggest that tildrakizumab may be a promising treatment option for people with psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
Speaking to medwireNews, lead investigator Philip Mease (University of Washington, Seattle, USA) explained that the anti-interleukin-23p19 monoclonal antibody “is approved for treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis and is currently under investigation for treatment of psoriatic arthritis.”
We are very glad to see this data coming forward […] it will be helpful to us to have more medications in the therapeutic armamentarium for patients who are not responding or not tolerating or having safety problems with other medications that are approved for psoriatic arthritis.
Click through to listen to Philip Mease talking about the trial findings
The investigators demonstrated that participants who were randomly assigned to receive tildrakizumab 200 mg every 4 weeks (n=78), 200 mg every 12 weeks (n=79), 100 mg every 12 weeks (n=77), or 20 mg every 12 weeks (n=78) were significantly more likely to achieve an ACR20 response at week 24 than those given placebo, at rates of 79.5%, 77.2%, 71.4%, and 73.1%, respectively, versus 50.6%. Mease noted that at week 16, participants taking placebo who had less than 10% improvement from baseline in swollen and tender joint counts were allowed medication dose adjustment, and received tildrakizumab 200 mg every 12 weeks.
ACR50, ACR70, PASI75, and PASI90 response rates were also significantly higher among patients treated with tildrakizumab versus placebo.
Mease said that rates of adverse events in the trial were “relatively low,” and there were no discontinuations due to treatment-emergent adverse events. The most frequently occurring adverse events included nasopharyngitis, reported in 5.4% of participants in the pooled tildrakizumab arms and 6.3% of those given placebo, and diarrhea, affecting 1.3% and 0.0%, respectively.
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Ann Rheum Dis 2019; 78: 78–79 (abstract)
European Congress of Rheumatology 2019; Madrid, Spain: 12–15 June