Dive Brief:
- In a 12-week placebo-controlled and head-to-head trial, brodalumab, intended for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, outperformed both Stelara (ustekinumab) and placebo.
- The study contained multiple primary endpoints, including the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI 100), which measures skin clearance, with a score of 100 representing 100% clearance.
- Brodalumab is the first and only investigational interleukin-17 inhibitor for the treatment of plaque psoriasis. If this drug is approved it will represent a new class of treatment options for plague psoriais.
Dive Insight:
It's been a long time coming, but it looks as if there will most likely be a new class of treatment options available for the treatment of plaque psoriasis. Interleukin 17 binding quells inflammation by blocking the inflammatory responses of several IL-17 cytokines.
At the 210 mg dose, 44.4% of brodalumab-treated patients achieved PASI 100, compared with 21.7% of Stelara-treated patients and 0.6% of placebo-treated patients. With a study population of roughly 1,800 patients, a rigorous study design and statistically significant results, Amgen and AstraZeneca are moving into the home stretch as they prepare to file brodaalumab in 2015.