Hidradenitis suppurativa improvement shown with lutikizumab

Key takeaways:

• Lutikizumab is a dual variable interleukin-1alpha/1beta antagonist being tested to treat hidradenitis suppurativa.
• A 300 mg dose of lutikizumab achieved higher response rates vs. placebo or lower doses.

Phase 2 trial results found lutikizumab was efficacious in treating hidradenitis suppurativa in patients who had previously failed anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy, AbbVie announced in a press release.

The 16-week, double blind, parallel group, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging phase 2 study evaluated lutikizumab, a dual variable domain interleukin-1alpha/1beta antagonist, in 153 patients with HS who had previously failed anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy and who had moderate to severe disease.

Subjects were randomly assigned to receive lutikizumab 100 mg every other week, lutikizumab 300 mg every other week, lutikizumab 300 mg every week or placebo.

HiSCR clinical response, defined as at least a 50% reduction in total HS abscess and inflammatory nodule count, was achieved by 48.7% of the every-other-week 300 mg lutikizumab group, 59.5% of the weekly 300 mg lutikizumab group, 27% of the 100 mg treatment group and 35% of the placebo group.

Improvement in skin pain and HiSCR 75, the two secondary endpoints of the trial, were also achieved at higher rates in the two 300 mg treatment groups.

Treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in 70.8% of those in the treatment groups and 75% of those in the placebo group with HS, diarrhea, headache and pruritus being the most common.

“AbbVie continues to pioneer research in the pursuit of new treatment options for patients with hidradenitis suppurativa, a frequently overlooked, underserved and often suffering patient population," Roopal Thakkar, MD, senior vice president of global therapeutics and chief medical officer at AbbVie, said in the release.

Based on the study’s results, the company will continue investigating lutikizumab in phase 3 trials, Thakkar added.