Liver disease incidences from bimekizumab low among patients with psoriasis

Key takeaways:

• After 2 years of bimekizumab treatment, the incidence rate of hepatic treatment-emergent adverse events was 3.5 per 100 patient-years.
• Rates did not increase from the first to second treatment year.

Hepatic adverse events with bimekizumab were low and consistent through 2 years of treatment among patients with moderate to severe psoriasis, according to a study.

Patients with moderate to severe psoriasis are at an increased risk for developing comorbidities such as obesity, diabetes and dyslipidemia, which can lead to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Additionally, approximately one-third of psoriasis patients consume excessive amounts of alcohol, which can cause fatty liver disease.

“Given the potential for concomitant liver disease, patients with psoriasis have a higher risk of abnormalities in liver function,” Mark G. Lebwohl, MD, dean of clinical therapeutics and chair emeritus of the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and colleagues wrote. “Additionally, certain systemic psoriasis treatments ... are associated with the potential for hepatotoxicity.”

Mark G. Lebwohl

Bimekizumab (Bimzelx, UCB), an interleukin-17F/17A inhibitor, is one such treatment with a possible side effect being elevated liver enzyme levels, according to the medication’s prescription label.

To look further into the association between hepatic treatment-emergent adverse events and bimekizumab, the researchers analyzed data reported from five phase 3 trials over 2 years. Across the trials, 2,186 patients with psoriasis received at least 1 dose of bimekizumab.

According to the authors, their analysis showed that rates of hepatic adverse events with bimekizumab were low and did not increase with longer exposure. After 2 years of treatment with bimekizumab, the incidence rate of hepatic treatment-emergent adverse events was 3.5 per 100 patient-years and did not increase from the first to second treatment year.

The incidence rate of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels that were more than three times the upper limit of normal was 2.3 per 100 patient-years and the incidence rate of five times the upper limit of normal was 0.6 per 100 patient-years, which the authors called similar to placebo, adalimumab, secukinumab and ustekinumab

Regardless of baseline fibrosis risk, Fibrosis-4 Index and AST to Platelet Ratio Index scores also did not increase through 2 years.

Reference:

• Safety and possible side effects. https://www.bimzelx.com/about-bimzelx/side-effects. Accessed April 16, 2024.