Inhibitor class PsO treatments exhibit similar efficacy in mitigating PsA risk

Key takeaways:

• The authors evaluated psoriasis patients’ risks for developing psoriatic arthritis when treated with interleukin-23i vs. IL-12/23i.
• Hazard ratios showed an insignificant difference in the risk between groups.

Patients treated with interleukin-23i or IL-12/23i for psoriasis exhibited similar rates of risk for developing psoriatic arthritis, according to a study.

“[Psoriasis (PsO)] is associated with several medical comorbidities, including psoriatic arthritis (PsA),” Sung Huang Laurent Tsai, MD, MPH, orthopedic surgeon at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan, and colleagues wrote. “Notably, PsA, an inflammatory joint disease, affects 20% to 30% of individuals with PsO.”

According to Tsai and colleagues, previous studies have found that treating PsO with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors significantly reduces the onset of PsA and can even mitigate the risk for developing it. However, there have not been any studies that focused on the difference in the risk for PsA with IL-23i vs. IL-12/23i therapies.

In this study, the authors analyzed data on patients with PsO who were treated with IL-23i (n = 2,273) and IL-12/23 (n = 2,995) to evaluate the differences in developing PsA.

Results showed that there was no significant difference in the cumulative incidence of PsA between the IL-23i and IL 12/23i treatment groups except for a slight increase in incidences between years 3 and 5 in the IL-23i cohort. However, this finding was not significant.

Hazard ratios also showed an insignificant difference in the risk for developing PsA between the groups (HR = 0.96; 95% CI, 0.68-1.35). These findings were consistent across age, sex and race.

“Our results reveal no significant differences in risk between PsO patients treated with either class of inhibitors, highlighting their similar safety profiles in PsO management and aligning with the expanding body of evidence supporting the safety of these biological agents,” the authors wrote. “In addition, Kaplan-Meier estimates also revealed comparable cumulative incidences of PsA in both cohorts, substantiating our conclusion that IL-23i and IL-12/23i exhibit similar safety profiles concerning joint complications throughout the study duration.”