Suicidal ideation, behavior rate low in psoriasis patients treated with bimekizumab

Key takeaways:

• The adjudicated SIB rate with bimekizumab for psoriasis was in the same range as the general psoriasis population.
• The rate was also in the same range as those receiving anti-IL-17A and anti-IL-23 therapies.

The long-term adjudicated suicidal ideation and behavior rate in patients with psoriasis treated with bimekizumab was low and within general psoriasis population ranges, according to a study.

“Patients with psoriasis may experience stigmatization due to its visible nature, increasing the prevalence of mental health disorders, such as suicidal ideation and behavior (SIB) and depression, compared with the general population,” lead author Andrew Blauvelt, MD, MBA, of Oregon Medical Research Center, and colleagues wrote.

As Healio previously reported, bimekizumab, an interleukin (IL)-17A and IL-17F inhibitor, was approved for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in 2023. However, bimekizumab’s U.S. prescribing information has SIB in the warnings/precautions section.

Andrew Blauvelt

The authors set out to determine the rates of SIB and depression in 2,480 patients with moderate to severe psoriasis who received bimekizumab in nine phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials. SIB and depression were assessed via the patient-reported electronic Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale and Patient Health Questionnaire and monitored by an independent neuropsychiatric adjudication committee.

Patients experienced 7,166 patient-years (PY) of bimekizumab exposure, with an adjudicated SIB rate of 0.13 per 100 PY. This was in the same range as the general psoriasis population (0.09 to 0.54 per 100 PY) and patients receiving anti-IL-17A antibody and anti-IL-23 therapies (0.09 to 0.19 per 100 PY). It was also four times lower than the SIB rate for brodalumab (0.49 per 100 PY), a biologic that contains a boxed warning and Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies program for suicide.

At baseline, 81.6% and 79.5% of patients treated with bimekizumab and placebo, respectively, experienced no or minimal depression. By week 16, those rates increased to 92.9% for bimekizumab-treated patients and 81.1% for placebo-treated patients.