Secukinumab Demonstrates Real-World Efficacy in Treating Psoriatic Arthritis
Researchers conducted a literature review of patients’ clinical experiences with using secukinumab to treat psoriatic arthritis.
Secukinumab has shown significantly improved patient-oriented and clinician-oriented outcomes among patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and other comorbidities. In their literature review, researchers confirmed the continued efficacy of secukinumab for PsA due to real-world evidence (RWE) of rapid, safe, and clinically significant responses, according to data published in the Italian Journal of Rheumatology.1
“PsA is a chronic, systemic, immune-mediated inflammatory disease characterized by musculoskeletal involvement and dermatological manifestations. It most commonly affects [patients] around 40-50 years of age, frequently involving peripheral and axial joints, skin, and nails. Recent evidence has indicated that several comorbidities are frequently observed in patients with PsA,” wrote authors of the study.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved secukinumab (Cosentyx) for the treatment of active PsA in January 2016, paving the way for the medicine class known as interleukin-17A (IL-17A) inhibitors.2 Since its approval, secukinumab has shown continued success by significantly improving patients’ Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) scores and demonstrating sustained outcomes for up to 2 years in the Phase 3 FUTURE clinical trials.1
PsA usually affects patients 40-50 years old, frequently involving peripheral and axial joints, skin, and nails. | image credit: Oporty786 / stock.adobe.com
“While randomized clinical trials of secukinumab have demonstrated its efficacy in PsA treatment after inadequate response to [tumor necrosis factor] (TNF) or as a first biological treatment, RWE of the drug’s efficacy still provides new insights. RWE is important since it is complementary to the data from controlled trials, wherein the findings may not always be generalizable to real-world practice,” they wrote.
READ MORE: FDA Approves Bimekizumab-Bkzx for Psoriatic Arthritis, 2 Other Indications
To further determine secukinumab’s efficacy through RWE, researchers reviewed studies that explored the drug’s use in patients with PsA and analyzed data regarding drug retention rate, efficacy, and patient-reported outcomes. More specifically, they only focused on patients with PsA who had inadequate responses to TNF or other traditional options and had follow-ups of up to 1 year.
The study period lasted a total of 18 months from April 2018 to October 2019. Patients were evaluated every 3 months of the study for up to 12 months. They were then separated into 4 groups denoting how many months of follow-up they completed: T1=3 months, T2=6 months, T3=9 months, and T4=12 months. T0 was defined as the baseline of the study.
Finally, the authors noted that the only criteria key to their review was that patients included in the study received a prior therapy with conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs or biological agents and discontinued due to a lack of efficacy or adverse reactions.1 Throughout the study period, patients were given 300 mg of secukinumab weekly for 5 weeks and 300 mg each month after.
“In our real-life observational study, secukinumab can be considered an effective PsA therapy. Significant improvements were seen in PASI scores at 3, 9, and 12 months, and in[Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index scores] at 9 and 12 months,” continued the authors.1 “Randomized clinical trials showed that secukinumab was associated with meaningful improvements in clinical and radiological parameters, and recent real-life evidence supports the efficacy of secukinumab in PsA.”
According to top secukinumab manufacturer Novartis, their formula is the most prominent treatment for PsA in the US with more than 4.3 million prescriptions filled as of December 2023.3 Between clinical trials and literature reviews detailing its RWE, secukinumab has separated itself as the pharmacological standard for treating PsA.
However, secukinumab is not the only monoclonal antibody approved for treating pain and skin symptoms in patients with PsA. Over a decade before the approval of secukinumab, the FDA approved adalimumab (Humira) for active PsA.4 But in October 2024, an article was published in the Journal of Dermatological Treatment showing that secukinumab outperformed adalimumab in improving patient’s severe skin symptoms.5
While both medications have collected RWE that highlights their efficacy, secukinumab has demonstrated continuous success as researchers confirm the drug’s rapid, safe, clinically relevant, and sustained positive patient responses. But with patients’ comorbidities playing a key factor in their review, researchers believe future studies should explore patients living with complications like cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, bowel inflammation, obesity, osteoporosis, and other comorbidities.
“This observational study confirmed the rapid, safe, clinically relevant, and sustained positive responses to secukinumab treatment in PsA patients with co-morbidities, who were previously subjected to alternative therapies. Further investigations are needed to better evaluate the role played by the comorbidities in the response to this biological agent,” concluded authors of the study.1
READ MORE: Pain Management Resource Center
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