Risankizumab may be superior to secukinumab in psoriasis treatment

Risankizumab demonstrated superiority to secukinumab in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, according to study results presented at the American Academy of Dermatology virtual meeting.

“We know we have many efficacious treatments for psoriasis now. It is important to be able to decide which drug is best used when and of course which drugs are better than others,” Richard B. Warren, BSc, MBChB, PhD, of The Dermatology Centre, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, said. “We’re presenting data of risankizumab, an IL-32 inhibitor, vs. secukinumab in a direct head-to-head study over 52 weeks.”

In a phase 3 open-label, efficacy assessor-blinded study, 164 patients received risankizumab 150 mg and 163 patients received secukinumab 300 mg. The primary endpoints for efficacy were the proportion of patients who achieved at least a 90% reduction in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index score at week 16 and week 52.

Risankizumab was noninferior to secukinumab at week 16, with 74% of patients achieving PASI 90 vs. 66% of patients in the secukinumab group achieving PASI 90. Risankizumab was superior to secukinumab at week 52, with 87% of patients achieving PASI 90 vs. 57% achieving PASI 90 (P < .001), respectively. All secondary endpoints supported risankizumab superiority. Adverse events were reported for 71% of patients on risankizumab or secukinumab, and a follow-up study on treatment safety is ongoing.

“In terms of efficacy, risankizumab was noninferior to secukinumab at week 16 and risankizumab was superior to secukinumab at week 52,” Warren said. “In terms of safety, there are no specific new safety signals identified, and broadly speaking, findings were consistent with the phase 3 risankizumab program.”