Novel therapy – bimekizumab – potential psoriatic arthritis treatment

Bimekizumab is a monoclonal antibody that selectively neutralises interleukin 17A and interleukin 17F, so is being tested for people with psoriatic arthritis. The latest findings, reported in the Lancet, are encouraging.

A total of 206 people with psoriatic arthritis were split into groups: 42 people were in a placebo group and the others received varying amounts of bimekizumab in the form of injections every four weeks for 12 weeks.

At 12 weeks, compared with the placebo group, significantly more people in the bimekizumab groups achieved a 50% improvement in symptoms.

Over 55% of people in the placebo group and 41% of people in the bimekizumab groups reported treatment-emergent adverse events. Most of these adverse events were mild or moderate but serious adverse events happened in eight people receiving bimekizumab. This is deemed an acceptable safety profile so future trials will be carried out.

Click here to read the original research.

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