For psoriasis patients who have previously faced therapy failure of one or more interleukin (IL)-17A inhibitors, brodalumab appears to be an effective choice of drug with good tolerability, says a study published in Dermatologic Therapy. Nikolai Loft et al. examined the short-term and long-term efficacy of brodalumab (IL-17 receptor A inhibitor) for the management of psoriasis.

This open-label trial incorporated 20 people (7 females, median age 50 years, median baseline PASI 13.5). The recruited participants were treated with a standard dose (210 mg) of brodalumab. Following 12, 26, and 52 weeks of therapy, an evaluation of efficacy was done.

The percentage of people attaining an absolute psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) ≤2 and/or a relative decline of PASI of 75% (PASI75) at 12^th week was the major endpoint. At the baseline and following twelve weeks of therapy, estimation of plasma cytokine levels was done. By evaluating the data via nonresponder imputation, the number of participants achieving either PASI75 and/or PASI ≤2, PASI90, and PASI100 at week 12 is depicted in Table 1:

Notably, 9 people (45%) finished the 52-weeks trial, and 7 people (35%) still had PASI75 throughout 52 weeks. Out of 20 people, 17 people (85%) witnessed adverse events during 52 weeks. However, no severe adverse events or deaths were reported.

Compared to participants who did not respond to therapy, the participants responding to therapy illustrated reduced levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and IL-6 at the baseline.

Despite previous therapy failure with IL-17A inhibitors, brodalumab seems to be an effective agent in patients suffering from psoriasis. But, additional robust real-world studies on long-term follow-up are still needed, concluded the investigators.