Phase 3 trials of ixekizumab in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis

N Engl J Med 2016;375:345–56. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1512711

Gordon, et al. pool the results of UNCOVER-1, UNCOVER-2, and UNCOVER-3 to show that ixekizumab increases the proportion of patients achieving an sPGA score of 0/1 or PASI 75 versus placebo. Adverse events related to ixekizumab treatment included neutropenia, candidal infections, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Treatment of moderate-to-severe chronic plaque PsO with either CZP 400 mg or 200 mg Q2W was associated with significant, clinically meaningful improvements in efficacy and quality of life that were maintained over time compared with placebo. Safety findings were in line with those expected of the therapy.

Blauvelt et al. shows superior and sustained efficacy for risankizumab in maintaining skin clearance over time versus placebo upon withdrawal, alongside a favourable safety profile in chronic plaque psoriasis through a phase 3, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, assessing PASI 90 and sPGA score of 0/1 at Week 16.

Here, investigators reported that efficacy measures for skin and scalp were significantly greater for apremilast than for placebo in patients with PsO at baseline. Previously, clinical study data has highlighted that the use of apremilast leads to a reduction in the expression within the epidermis of numerous inflammatory cytokines relevant to PsO. As a result, ESTEEM 1 evaluated the efficacy/safety of apremilast at 30 mg BID for moderate to severe PsO.