Secukinumab Efficacy on Psoriatic Arthritis GRAPPA-OMERACT Core Domains in Patients with or Without Prior Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitor Use: Pooled Analysis of Four Phase 3 Studies.

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic, heterogeneous, immune-mediated disease manifesting as a spectrum of possible inflammatory signs and symptoms. Clinicians need therapeutic choices that work across all active PsA disease domains, as well as practical information about efficacy of available treatments for individual domains in specific groups of patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of prior tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) exposure on the efficacy of secukinumab across PsA core domains. Data were pooled from 2049 participants with PsA in four phase 3 studies (FUTURE 2–5). Efficacy at week 16 was evaluated for each GRAPPA-OMERACT PsA core domain using nonresponder imputation for musculoskeletal disease activity and Psoriasis Area and Severity Index scores or as-observed data for other outcomes. For each measure, comparisons with placebo were made separately in the TNFi-naive and TNFi-inadequate responder/intolerant (TNF-IR) cohorts. Treatment with secukinumab improved PsA disease activity across all disease domains regardless of previous TNFi use, although TNFi-naive patients experienced numerically greater benefits in most outcomes. Among patients treated with secukinumab 300 mg, 41.5% and 24.4% of TNFi-naive patients (P < 0.05 vs placebo) and 18.6% and 9.0% of TNF-IR patients (nonsignificant vs placebo) experienced resolution in 66 swollen and 68 tender joint counts, respectively; additionally, 37.2% of TNFi-naive patients and 24.2% of TNF-IR patients achieved complete resolution of psoriasis at week 16 (all P < 0.05 vs placebo). Secukinumab effect sizes were generally larger in TNFi-naive vs TNF-IR patients for musculoskeletal and patient-reported domains. Secukinumab demonstrated efficacy vs placebo across GRAPPA-OMERACT PsA core domains. Higher responses among TNFi-naive vs TNF-IR patients suggest that secukinumab should be considered for first-line use in PsA. Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a long-term disease that can affect a patient’s joints, skin, lower back, physical function, mental health, productivity, and other areas. Drugs called tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFis) can be used to treat PsA, although not all patients benefit from TNFis and many seek other treatment options. These patients, known as TNFi-inadequate responders (TNF-IR), have PsA that is difficult to treat. Another treatment option is secukinumab, a drug that blocks a molecule called interleukin-17 that is involved in PsA. Doctors need to know how different drugs work for treating PsA signs and symptoms in different groups of patients, including TNF-IR patients and those who have never received TNFis (TNFi-naive patients). This study used data from 2049 patients in four different PsA clinical trials (FUTURE 2–5) to see how well secukinumab worked at treating different signs and symptoms of PsA in TNFi-naive and TNF-IR patients. After 16 weeks of treatment, patients who took secukinumab saw greater improvements across all measured PsA signs and symptoms than those who took placebo. This was true for both TNFi-naive and TNF-IR patients. TNFi-naive patients seemed to benefit slightly more than TNF-IR patients—especially in their joint symptoms—although this study was not designed to judge the significance of these differences. These results suggest that secukinumab would be an effective first treatment option for patients with PsA. Since secukinumab improves the skin, joints, and other affected areas, it can be useful in treating the whole patient who has psoriatic disease.