Ixekizumab linked to decrease in psoriasis-related sexual difficulties

AMSTERDAM – Patient complaints of psoriasis-related sexual difficulties decreased significantly in response to treatment with the investigational biologic agent ixekizumab in a phase 2 dose-ranging study.

Sexual problems attributed by psoriasis patients to their skin condition are a common, underappreciated, and understudied problem. Most physicians simply don’t ask. But when they do, as was done formally in this study, it turned out that at baseline roughly one-third of the 142 participating subjects with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis reported some degree of sexual problems they believed due specifically to their skin disease, Dr. Lyn Guenther reported at the annual congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

That rate dropped precipitously and in dose-dependent fashion in response to subcutaneous therapy with ixekizumab, a super-potent psoriasis medication directed against interleukin 17A, according to Dr. Guenther, professor of dermatology at the University of Western Ontario, London.

The study entailed double-blind randomization of the 142 participants to subcutaneous injections of ixekizumab at 10, 25, 75, or 150 mg or placebo at 0, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks. The standard primary outcome -- the proportion of patients with a PASI 75 improvement at 12 weeks -- has previously been reported as highly positive (N. Engl. J. Med. 2012;366:1190-9).

For her secondary analysis of psoriasis-related sexual difficulties and their response to treatment, Dr. Guenther used as her metric the patients’ response to item 9 on the Dermatology Life Quality Index, which all subjects completed at weeks 0, 8, and 16. Item 9 asks the extent to which the responder’s skin “caused any sexual difficulties” during the past week. The options range from 0 (none at all) to 3 (very much). She categorized a response of 1 or more as evidence of sexual difficulties. And because of the relatively small sample size in this study, she lumped together as the low-dose therapy group those patients assigned to ixekizumab at 10 or 25 mg, with the high-dose group being comprised of patients on 75 or

After 8 weeks on low-dose ixekizumab, the proportion of patients reporting any skin disease-related sexual difficulties within the past week fell from a baseline of 30% to 16%. After 8 weeks of high-dose ixekizumab, the figure was just 7%. Those rates remained unchanged at 16 weeks. In contrast, the placebo group remained unchanged over time, with 32% of patients still reporting sexual difficulties caused by their skin disease at week 8.

The degree to which a patient’s psoriasis improved in response to therapy with the humanized monoclonal antibody was closely related to the reduction in skin-related sexual problems. Among the 76 ixekizumab-treated patients who achieved a PASI 75 response at week 16, the rate of self-reported sexual difficulties within the previous week was 7%. For those with less than a PASI 75 response, the rate was 24%.

An impressively high 38% percent of patients on high-dose ixekizumab achieved a PASI 100 response. Only 5% of them reported any skin-related sexual difficulties at week 8, as did 9% at week 16.

Dr. Guenther also looked at the data restricting the analysis to patients with more severe baseline sexual impairment as defined by a response of 2 or 3 on item 9 of the DLQI. Among patients on high-dose izekizumab, the rate dropped from 10.5% at baseline to 1.8% at week 8 to zero at week 16. For patients on low-dose izekizumab, the progression was 13.8% to 8.8% to 3.5% at week 16. Rates remained unchanged over time in the control group.

Although this phase 2 study was limited in size, Dr. Guenther found much the same thing earlier in the much larger phase 3 PHOENIX 1 and 2 trials of ustekinumab (Stelara), which together featured 1,334 psoriasis patients randomized to the human anti-interkelukin-12/23 monoclonal antibody. In that analysis, the proportion of ustekinumab-treated patients with impaired sexual function as assessed by DLQI item 9 plunged from 22.4% at baseline to 2.7% at week 12, compared with no change in placebo-treated controls. The bigger the PASI improvement, the greater the reduction in psoriasis-related sexual dysfunction (J. Eur. Acad. Dermatol. Venereol. 2011;25:851-7).

The phase 2 ixekizumab study was funded by Eli Lilly. Dr. Guenther is a consultant to the company. Positive primary outcomes in three pivotal phase 3 clinical trials of ixekizumab totalling nearly 3,900 randomized psoriasis patients have since been reported. The company plans to apply for marketing approval of the biologic in the first half of 2015.

[email protected]

AMSTERDAM – Patient complaints of psoriasis-related sexual difficulties decreased significantly in response to treatment with the investigational biologic agent ixekizumab in a phase 2 dose-ranging study.

Sexual problems attributed by psoriasis patients to their skin condition are a common, underappreciated, and understudied problem. Most physicians simply don’t ask. But when they do, as was done formally in this study, it turned out that at baseline roughly one-third of the 142 participating subjects with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis reported some degree of sexual problems they believed due specifically to their skin disease, Dr. Lyn Guenther reported at the annual congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

That rate dropped precipitously and in dose-dependent fashion in response to subcutaneous therapy with ixekizumab, a super-potent psoriasis medication directed against interleukin 17A, according to Dr. Guenther, professor of dermatology at the University of Western Ontario, London.

The study entailed double-blind randomization of the 142 participants to subcutaneous injections of ixekizumab at 10, 25, 75, or 150 mg or placebo at 0, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks. The standard primary outcome -- the proportion of patients with a PASI 75 improvement at 12 weeks -- has previously been reported as highly positive (N. Engl. J. Med. 2012;366:1190-9).

For her secondary analysis of psoriasis-related sexual difficulties and their response to treatment, Dr. Guenther used as her metric the patients’ response to item 9 on the Dermatology Life Quality Index, which all subjects completed at weeks 0, 8, and 16. Item 9 asks the extent to which the responder’s skin “caused any sexual difficulties” during the past week. The options range from 0 (none at all) to 3 (very much). She categorized a response of 1 or more as evidence of sexual difficulties. And because of the relatively small sample size in this study, she lumped together as the low-dose therapy group those patients assigned to ixekizumab at 10 or 25 mg, with the high-dose group being comprised of patients on 75 or

After 8 weeks on low-dose ixekizumab, the proportion of patients reporting any skin disease-related sexual difficulties within the past week fell from a baseline of 30% to 16%. After 8 weeks of high-dose ixekizumab, the figure was just 7%. Those rates remained unchanged at 16 weeks. In contrast, the placebo group remained unchanged over time, with 32% of patients still reporting sexual difficulties caused by their skin disease at week 8.

The degree to which a patient’s psoriasis improved in response to therapy with the humanized monoclonal antibody was closely related to the reduction in skin-related sexual problems. Among the 76 ixekizumab-treated patients who achieved a PASI 75 response at week 16, the rate of self-reported sexual difficulties within the previous week was 7%. For those with less than a PASI 75 response, the rate was 24%.

An impressively high 38% percent of patients on high-dose ixekizumab achieved a PASI 100 response. Only 5% of them reported any skin-related sexual difficulties at week 8, as did 9% at week 16.

Dr. Guenther also looked at the data restricting the analysis to patients with more severe baseline sexual impairment as defined by a response of 2 or 3 on item 9 of the DLQI. Among patients on high-dose izekizumab, the rate dropped from 10.5% at baseline to 1.8% at week 8 to zero at week 16. For patients on low-dose izekizumab, the progression was 13.8% to 8.8% to 3.5% at week 16. Rates remained unchanged over time in the control group.

Although this phase 2 study was limited in size, Dr. Guenther found much the same thing earlier in the much larger phase 3 PHOENIX 1 and 2 trials of ustekinumab (Stelara), which together featured 1,334 psoriasis patients randomized to the human anti-interkelukin-12/23 monoclonal antibody. In that analysis, the proportion of ustekinumab-treated patients with impaired sexual function as assessed by DLQI item 9 plunged from 22.4% at baseline to 2.7% at week 12, compared with no change in placebo-treated controls. The bigger the PASI improvement, the greater the reduction in psoriasis-related sexual dysfunction (J. Eur. Acad. Dermatol. Venereol. 2011;25:851-7).

The phase 2 ixekizumab study was funded by Eli Lilly. Dr. Guenther is a consultant to the company. Positive primary outcomes in three pivotal phase 3 clinical trials of ixekizumab totalling nearly 3,900 randomized psoriasis patients have since been reported. The company plans to apply for marketing approval of the biologic in the first half of 2015.

[email protected]

AMSTERDAM – Patient complaints of psoriasis-related sexual difficulties decreased significantly in response to treatment with the investigational biologic agent ixekizumab in a phase 2 dose-ranging study.

Sexual problems attributed by psoriasis patients to their skin condition are a common, underappreciated, and understudied problem. Most physicians simply don’t ask. But when they do, as was done formally in this study, it turned out that at baseline roughly one-third of the 142 participating subjects with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis reported some degree of sexual problems they believed due specifically to their skin disease, Dr. Lyn Guenther reported at the annual congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

That rate dropped precipitously and in dose-dependent fashion in response to subcutaneous therapy with ixekizumab, a super-potent psoriasis medication directed against interleukin 17A, according to Dr. Guenther, professor of dermatology at the University of Western Ontario, London.

The study entailed double-blind randomization of the 142 participants to subcutaneous injections of ixekizumab at 10, 25, 75, or 150 mg or placebo at 0, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks. The standard primary outcome -- the proportion of patients with a PASI 75 improvement at 12 weeks -- has previously been reported as highly positive (N. Engl. J. Med. 2012;366:1190-9).

For her secondary analysis of psoriasis-related sexual difficulties and their response to treatment, Dr. Guenther used as her metric the patients’ response to item 9 on the Dermatology Life Quality Index, which all subjects completed at weeks 0, 8, and 16. Item 9 asks the extent to which the responder’s skin “caused any sexual difficulties” during the past week. The options range from 0 (none at all) to 3 (very much). She categorized a response of 1 or more as evidence of sexual difficulties. And because of the relatively small sample size in this study, she lumped together as the low-dose therapy group those patients assigned to ixekizumab at 10 or 25 mg, with the high-dose group being comprised of patients on 75 or

After 8 weeks on low-dose ixekizumab, the proportion of patients reporting any skin disease-related sexual difficulties within the past week fell from a baseline of 30% to 16%. After 8 weeks of high-dose ixekizumab, the figure was just 7%. Those rates remained unchanged at 16 weeks. In contrast, the placebo group remained unchanged over time, with 32% of patients still reporting sexual difficulties caused by their skin disease at week 8.

The degree to which a patient’s psoriasis improved in response to therapy with the humanized monoclonal antibody was closely related to the reduction in skin-related sexual problems. Among the 76 ixekizumab-treated patients who achieved a PASI 75 response at week 16, the rate of self-reported sexual difficulties within the previous week was 7%. For those with less than a PASI 75 response, the rate was 24%.

An impressively high 38% percent of patients on high-dose ixekizumab achieved a PASI 100 response. Only 5% of them reported any skin-related sexual difficulties at week 8, as did 9% at week 16.

Dr. Guenther also looked at the data restricting the analysis to patients with more severe baseline sexual impairment as defined by a response of 2 or 3 on item 9 of the DLQI. Among patients on high-dose izekizumab, the rate dropped from 10.5% at baseline to 1.8% at week 8 to zero at week 16. For patients on low-dose izekizumab, the progression was 13.8% to 8.8% to 3.5% at week 16. Rates remained unchanged over time in the control group.

Although this phase 2 study was limited in size, Dr. Guenther found much the same thing earlier in the much larger phase 3 PHOENIX 1 and 2 trials of ustekinumab (Stelara), which together featured 1,334 psoriasis patients randomized to the human anti-interkelukin-12/23 monoclonal antibody. In that analysis, the proportion of ustekinumab-treated patients with impaired sexual function as assessed by DLQI item 9 plunged from 22.4% at baseline to 2.7% at week 12, compared with no change in placebo-treated controls. The bigger the PASI improvement, the greater the reduction in psoriasis-related sexual dysfunction (J. Eur. Acad. Dermatol. Venereol. 2011;25:851-7).

The phase 2 ixekizumab study was funded by Eli Lilly. Dr. Guenther is a consultant to the company. Positive primary outcomes in three pivotal phase 3 clinical trials of ixekizumab totalling nearly 3,900 randomized psoriasis patients have since been reported. The company plans to apply for marketing approval of the biologic in the first half of 2015.

[email protected]