Real-world safety and efficacy of risankizumab in psoriatic patients: a multicenter, retrospective, and not-interventional study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: risankizumab-a humanized monoclonal antibody that targets the p19 subunit of IL-23-has been recently approved to treat moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Real-world data based on a representative pool of patients are currently lacking.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the mid- and long-term safety and efficacy profile of risankizumab in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis in the routine clinical practice.

METHODS: This was a retrospective and multicenter study of consecutive psoriatic patients on risankizumab from April 2020 through November 2022. The primary endpoint was the number of patients who achieved a 100% improvement in their Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) (PASI100) on week 52.

RESULTS: A total of 510 patients, 198 (38.8%) women and 312 (61.2%) men were included in the study. The mean age was 51.7 ± 14.4 years. A total of 227 (44.5%) study participants were obese (body mass index [BMI] > 30kg/m2 ). The mean baseline PASI score was 11.4 ± 7.2, and the rate of patients who achieved PASI100 on week 52, 67.0%. Throughout the study follow-up, 21%, 50.0%, 59.0%, and 66% of the patients achieved PASI100 on weeks 4, 16, 24, and 40, respectively. The number of patients who achieved a PASI ≤ 2 was greater in the group with a BMI ≤ 30 kg/m2 on weeks 4 (P = .04), 16 (P = .001), and 52 (P = .002). A statistically significantly greater number of patients achieved PASI100 in the treatment-naïve group on weeks 16 and 52 (P = .001 each, respectively). On week 16 a significantly lower number of participants achieved PASI100 in the group with psoriatic arthropathy (P = .04). Among the overall study sample, 22 (4.3%) patients reported some type of adverse event and 20 (3.9%) discontinued treatment.

CONCLUSIONS: Risankizumab proved to be a safe and effective therapy for patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis in the routine clinical practice.