Risankizumab improves moderate to severe plaque psoriasis for up to 5 years

Key takeaways:

• 85.1% of patients achieved PASI 90 and 52.3% achieved PASI 100 at week 256.
• The rates of treatment-emergent adverse events were similar, and even lower, after 5 years of use.

Risankizumab demonstrated a consistent long-term safety profile and clinical response in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, according to a phase 3 study.

LIMMitless, an ongoing, open-label extension phase 3 study, is evaluating the long-term safety and efficacy of continuous risankizumab — an interleukin-23 inhibitor — dosed 150 mg every 12 weeks in adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

“In a previous interim analysis of the LIMMitless study, risankizumab was well tolerated and demonstrated durable long-term efficacy beyond 3 years of continuous use,” Kim A. Papp, MD, PhD, of Alliance Clinical Research and Probity Medical Research in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues wrote. “Here, we report the latest interim update on the LIMMitless study through almost 5 years of continuous use.”

Results showed that of 706 patients, 85.1% achieved PASI 90 and 52.3% achieved PASI 100 at week 256. Also, 85.8% and 76.4% of patients achieved static physician global assessment 0/1 and a DLQI score of 0/1, respectively.

Compared with the safety results at 16 weeks, the rates of treatment-emergent adverse events were similar, and even lower, after 5 years. The cumulative rates of treatment-emergent adverse events were 318 events per 100 patient-years at 16 weeks and only 155.3 events per 100 patient-years at 304 weeks. After 5 years of use, serious adverse events also decreased from 9.9 to 6.9 events per 100 patient-years.

“The LIMMitless study is still ongoing; however, the findings from this interim analysis highlight the long-term use of risankizumab is a viable option for the safe and effective management of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis,” the authors concluded.