A recent study issued in the British Journal of Dermatology portrayed that compared with fumaric acid esters (FAEs), risankizumab (humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody) offers earlier and improved psoriasis outcomes that persist with continued therapy. There were more favorable safety results in accordance with the known safety profile as well.

This randomized controlled trial compared the efficacy of risankizumab with the most commonly recommended first-line systemic therapy for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in Germany i.e. FAEs.

The study participants were either administered with risankizumab 150 mg subcutaneously (at weeks 0, 4, 16) or FAEs 30 mg per day (week 0) to 720 mg per day (weeks 8 to 24) given orally. These patients were adults inexperienced to and applicants for systemic therapy, with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Phototherapy was not permitted within 14 days before or throughout the study. At week 24, the main efficacy endpoints were fulfilled for risankizumab as compared to FAEs, table 1: 

Patients in the FAEs group witnessed higher rates of flushing, headache, gastrointestinal disorders, and lymphopenia. A critical infection (influenza requiring hospitalization) was reported by a patient in the risankizumab group. No cases of malignancies, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or opportunistic infections were reported.