Bimzelx commercially available for plaque psoriasis

Key takeaways:

• Bimzelx, an IL-17A and IL-17F inhibitor, was FDA approved for plaque psoriasis in October.
• The autoinjector is now commercially available for adult patients who are candidates for systemic or phototherapy.

Bimzelx, which was approved by the FDA in October, is now commercially available for patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, UCB announced in a press release.

Patients who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy now have the option of Bimzelx (bimekizumab-bkzx) autoinjector and prefilled syringe, which can be administered subcutaneously by a health care worker or via self-injection.

Bimzelx is the first FDA-approved psoriasis treatment to inhibit IL-17A and IL-17F. The drug’s approval was based on three phase 3 multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled or active comparator-controlled trials, BE READY, BE VIVID and BE SURE.

Across all studies, approximately 80% of patients who received Bimzelx 320 mg every 4 weeks achieved PASI 90 and IGA 0 or 1 at week 16. Approximately 60% of patients achieved complete skin clearance, or PASI 100, at week 16, according to the press release.

“While the treatment landscape for psoriasis has evolved in recent years, many unmet needs remain for the more than 7.5 million adults in the U.S. living with the disease,” Jeffrey Stark, MD, head of medical and U.S. immunology at UCB, said in the release. “With Bimzelx now available, patients and their health care providers have access to a treatment that has proven to consistently deliver rapid, complete and maintained skin clearance from the first dose.”