Skyrizi’s Rise

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new treatment option for psoriasis patients earlier this year: AbbVie’s Skyrizi (risankizumab-rzaa). This medication, which is used as a subcutaneous injection, gained this approval after a series of studies showed a high rate of skin clearance in adults with severe plaque psoriasis using Skyrizi.

Ready for even better news about Skyrizi? A new study compares Skyrizi head-to-head with Humira (adalimumab) in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. This large, double-blind study included 605 patients from 66 clinics in 11 countries, who were randomly assigned to either Humira or Skyrizi.

Here’s the one main thing you need to know:

Skyrizi demonstrated better skin clearance than Humira for psoriasis.

There were no additional safety concerns with the use of Skyrizi. Additionally, the Skyrizi treatment offered patients more flexibility as a long-term treatment. As another benefit, Skyrizi’s dosing schedule involves fewer injections than Humira. While Humira is injected every two weeks, Skyrizi is only injected every 12 weeks (after the first two initial doses).

Skyrizi joins not only Humira, but several other medication options that can be considered for treating psoriasis, which includes Otezla, Taltz, Cosentyx, Tremfya, and Stelara. Determining which medication is right for a particular patient requires personalized assessment of each patient. However, it’s definitely useful to know Skyrizi’s excellent performance in human research, when considering medications for patients.

Source

Reich K, Gooderham M, Thaci D, et al. Risankizumab compared with adalimumab in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis (IMMvent): a randomised, double-blind, active-comparator-controlled phase 3 trial. Lancet 2019;394(10198):P576-86.