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Secukinumab receives EU approval for treatment of psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis
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Novartis announced it has received an approval from the European Commission for expanded labeling of secukinumab for the treatment of patients with psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis, according to a company press release.
Secukinumab (Cosentyx, Novartis), an interleukin-17 inhibitor, has been studied in more than 9,600 patients in clinical trials and received by 12,500 patients following its release and earlier European approval to treat plaque psoriasis as a first-line therapy. In the United States, secukinumab is approved to treat moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. In Japan, the medication is approved to treat psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
According to the release, clinical trials showed up to 80% of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) had no radiographic progression of spinal damage in more than 2 years of follow-up, and 84% of patients with PsA had no progression of joint damage with the same length of follow-up. Multicenter studies are ongoing.
“The strong treatment benefits seen in our studies suggest that Cosentyx may give patients the chance to stop the disease from progressing, preventing living with pain and disability,” David Epstein, division head of Novartis Pharmaceuticals, said in the release. “These approvals mean that people living with ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis across Europe can now start to benefit from this next generation biologic that has the potential to become a new standard of care for these common but under-treated inflammatory conditions.”
Reference:
www.novartis.com