Deucravacitinib reduces signs, symptoms of psoriasis

Patient-reported psoriasis signs and symptoms improvement was significantly better in those treated with deucravacitinib over placebo and apremilast, according to two clinical trials presented at the EADV Congress virtual meeting.

“Deucravacitinib is a novel, oral, selective tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor that binds to the regulatory domain with high specificity,” April Armstrong, MD, MPH, associate dean for clinical research at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, said in the presentation.

The double-blind, global, phase 3 POETYK PSO-1 and PSO-2 trials compared deucravacitinib to placebo and apremilast over 52 weeks of treatment in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis. Subjects were randomly assigned 2:1:1 to receive deucravacitinib 6 mg once daily, placebo or apremilast 30 mg twice daily.

Physician Global Assessment score improvement and patient-recorded psoriasis symptoms and signs, measured by the Psoriasis Symptoms and Signs Diary (PSSD), were recorded.

The two trials included 666 and 1,020 patients, respectively.

At week 16 PSSD symptom scores had a mean improvement of –32 and –31.3 for the two deucravacitinib groups, compared to –6.3 and –3.2 for the two placebo groups and –23.7 and –23 for the two apremilast groups.

Sign scores had a mean improvement of –34.3 and –35.0 for the deucravacitinib groups, –7.7 and –6.3 for the placebo groups and –25.4 and –26.5 for the apremilast cohorts.

“The greatest symptom improvement was consistently observed for itch, a symptom that is present in the majority of patients with psoriasis and presents a significant burden to quality of life,” Armstrong said. “These patient-reported outcomes for psoriasis symptoms and signs were consistent overall with physicians’ assessments and clinical results.”