Risankizumab shows real-world efficacy in psoriasis

Key takeaways:

• This study compared risankizumab with other biologics in both biologic-naïve and biologic-experienced patients.
• Patients treated with risankizumab saw significant improvements in quality of life and PASI score.

Risankizumab showed a significant improvement in psoriasis severity and quality of life in biologic-naïve patients and in those previously treated with other biologics, according to a study.

The interim real-world study results were presented at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology Congress.

“It’s always important to have clinical trials, definitely, but since the drugs are coming on the market, it is always good to see its experience in the real world,” Diamant Thaçi, MD, director and professor at the Center for Comprehensive Inflammation Medicine at the University of Lübeck, said during his presentation. “Not a lot of patients who are participating in our trials are also real-world candidates. ... The aim of this VALUE study was to see in a real-world setting, in a prospective, observational study, to investigate how this is doing regarding efficacy compared to all other treatment options.”

The VALUE study included 2,639 patients with moderate to severe psoriasis who were randomly assigned 2:1 to receive risankizumab (n = 1,765; 50.7% biologic naïve) or other biologic therapies (n = 874; 62.9% biologic naïve).

At week 100, 62.5% and 44% of patients in the respective biologic-naïve and experienced risankizumab groups achieved PASI 100, compared with 42.9% and 30.6% of the two other biologic groups.

Quality of life, as measured by the treatment satisfaction questionnaire for medication global satisfaction score, was 88.3% in the risankizumab biologic-naïve group and 81.1% in the biologic-naïve other treatments group at week 100. For those in the biologic experienced groups, it was 83.6% in the risankizumab group and 74.9% in the other treatments group.

Mean PASI scores were significantly lower in the risankizumab groups, whereas DLQI scores were significantly higher.

“In real life it is very important to investigate how the treatment options that we have are doing. Looking to the improvement in PASI score and improvement in quality of life, I think we have a benefit we see in general with a biologic, and especially in this trial with risankizumab we see a treatment response and an improvement in quality of life,” Thaçi said.