Humira improves fingernail psoriasis in phase 3 study

AbbVie announced initial results of a phase 3 study finding that patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis achieved at least 75% improvement in moderate-to-severe fingernail psoriasis when treated with Humira compared with placebo.

“Fingernail psoriasis is a very challenging condition that is often unaddressed due to the lack of treatment options,” researcher Kim Papp, MD, PhD, founder and president of Probity Medical Research in Waterloo, Ontario, stated in a press release. “The results … are encouraging for patients living with this unmet need.”

Kim Papp

Up to 55% of people with psoriasis and 70% of people with psoriatic arthritis develop fingernail psoriasis, the release reported.

In research presented at Psoriasis 2016 – 5^th Congress of the Psoriasis International Network in Paris, 217 adults with moderate-to-severe fingernail psoriasis and moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis were randomized and treated with Humira (adalimumab, AbbVie) 40 mg every other week (n = 109) following an initial 80 mg does or placebo (n = 108) for the first 26 weeks of the study (period A), according to the release. Patients whose psoriasis-affected body surface area increased by at least 25% from baseline after week 16 in period A were able to receive open-label adalimumab for 26 weeks (period B).

At week 26, 46.6% of patients treated with adalimumab achieved at least a 75% improvement in modified Nail Psoriasis Severity Index compared with 3.4% of patients treated with placebo, and 48.9% of adalimumab-treated patients achieved Physician’s Global Assessment-fingernail-psoriasis of 0 to 1 (clear to minimal) with at least a 2-point improvement from baseline, compared with 6.9% in the placebo-treated cohort (P < .001, all), according to the release.

There were 56.9% in the adalimumab-treated cohort and 55.6% in the placebo-treated cohort reporting adverse events, with serious adverse events reported by 7.3% in the adalimumab-treated cohort and 4.6% of the placebo-treated cohorts, the release reported.

Reference: www.abbvie.com