Study Praises Brodalumab in Psoriasis

AstraZeneca and Amgen recently tracked psoriasis patients taking brodalumab, Janssen’s ustekinumab (Stelara), or placebo, and the results are in: brodalumab produced the greatest results in clearing skin.

"Despite a variety of treatment options available for psoriasis, many patients still do not meet skin clearance goals," said Sean E. Harper, MD, executive vice president of research and development at Amgen, in a press release. "These results are of particular importance as they are the first to demonstrate superiority to Stelara in achieving total skin clearance, and the second positive pivotal phase 3 study evaluating brodalumab in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis."

Using the Psoriasis Area Severity Index, the 2 manufacturers found that significantly more patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis taking brodalumab experienced improvement in disease severity at week 12, compared with Stelara and placebo.

Nearly 36% of patients receiving the highest dosage of brodalumab saw total skin clearance, compared with 18.5% of the Stelara group and 0.3% of the placebo group. In addition, more than 85% of individuals taking brodalumab 210 mg, about 69% of patients taking brodalumab 140 mg, 69.3% taking Stelara, and 6% taking placebo achieved at least a 75% improvement in disease severity.

According to AstraZeneca and Amgen, brodalumab is unique in that it binds to the interleukin-17 (IL-17) receptor, which prevents inflammatory signaling by blocking the binding of several IL-17 cytokines to the receptor.