Nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis

Promising results were announced by UCB after a Phase 3 study evaluated bimekizumab for non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis and met all endpoints.

Bimekizumab, an interleukin 17A (IL-17A) and IL-17F inhibitor, met both primary and secondary endpoints for treating adult patients with non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis.

“Many patients with axial spondyloarthritis who receive treatment still experience disease-related burdens in different aspects of health-related quality of life,” investigators stated.

An analysis of patients with active non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA) with an elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) and/or evidence of sacroiliitis on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) found that secukinumab (Cosentyx, Novartis) use resulted in numerically higher treatment response rates than placebo.

The approval is based on the phase 3 PREVENT trial, presented at the European E-Congress of Rheumatology 2020 (EULAR 2020) virtual meeting.

The sBLA indication is the fifth for the IL17A inhibitor, which showed reduction of inflammatory signs and symptoms in treated patients at 52 weeks.