Antibodies Effective Against Plaque Psoriasis

THURSDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) -- Antibodies targeting interleukin-17 or its receptor are effective in treating moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, according to two studies published in the March 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Kim A. Papp, M.D., Ph.D., from Probity Medical Research in Waterloo, Canada, and colleagues randomly assigned 198 patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis to placebo or one of four doses of brodalumab for 12 weeks. They found that, depending on the brodalumab dose, the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) score improved by a mean of 45.0 to 86.3 percent, compared with 16.0 percent for placebo. The PASI score improved by at least 75 percent and at least 90 percent in 77 and 72 percent, respectively, of the 140-mg brodalumab group and in 82 and 75 percent, respectively, of the 210-mg brodalumab group, compared with 0 percent of the placebo group.

Craig Leonardi, M.D., from the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, and colleagues randomly assigned 142 patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis to placebo or one of four doses of ixekizumab for 12 weeks. The researchers found that, depending on ixekizumab dose, the PASI score improved by at least 75 percent in 76.7 to 82.8 percent of the ixekizumab patients, compared with 7.7 percent of the placebo group. The PASI score improved by 100 percent in 37.9 to 39.3 percent of the ixekizumab patients (depending on dose), compared with 0 percent of the placebo group.

"After 12 weeks of study, the results of both trials showed that patients receiving the antibody had marked improvements in the PASI score," writes the author of an accompanying editorial. "Few adverse effects were observed, and few patients withdrew from the trials."

The first study was funded by Amgen, which developed brodalumab; several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies, including Amgen. The second study was funded by Eli Lilly, which developed ixekizumab; several authors are employees of Eli Lilly and one author is an employee of Pharmanet/i3.

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