Secukinumab Study Focuses on Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Inflammatory bowel disease is commonly associated with psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and active ankylosing spondylitis and now a new study finds that secukinumab (Cosentyx), an interleukin (IL)-17A inhibitor approved to treat these disorders, is not associated with an increased risk of inflammatory bowel disease in these patients.

The study also evaluated the frequency of Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) in secukinumab-treated patients with psoriasis (PsO), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and active ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

The risk of Crohn’s disease in psoriasis patients was found to be ~4-fold higher than the general population. Researchers found the risk was even higher among psoriasis patients with psoriatic arthritis - 0.05 cases per 100 patient years. The rate of Crohn’s disease among placebo-treated patients with ankylosing spondylitis was reported as 0.7 cases per 100 patient years.

The findings, presented this week at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2016) in London, are based on an analysis of data from ten phase II and phase III studies of patients with moderate to severe psoriasis. There were two phase III studies of patients with psoriatic arthritis and two phase III studies of patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Data from patients receiving at least one secukinumab dose up to week 52 or week 112 were included in the studies.  [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_crop","fid":"49446","attributes":{"alt":"©JuanGaertner/Shutterstock.com","class":"media-image media-image-right","id":"media_crop_5889618166786","media_crop_h":"0","media_crop_image_style":"-1","media_crop_instance":"5973","media_crop_rotate":"0","media_crop_scale_h":"0","media_crop_scale_w":"0","media_crop_w":"0","media_crop_x":"0","media_crop_y":"0","style":"font-size: 13.008px; line-height: 1.538em; float: right;","title":"©JuanGaertner/Shutterstock.com","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]

Overall, 3,430, 974 and 571 patients received at least one secukinumab dose in the PsO, PsA and AS studies, respectively. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis occurred infrequently in both the short and long-term. Researchers found that the rates of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis were similar across both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis patients. The rates were similar to psoriasis patients who prescribed etanercept.

“The events of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis in 14 clinical studies were reported infrequently in secukinumab-treated patients with PsO, PsA or AS. Rates were similar across the PsO and PsA cohorts. EAIR rates of CD and UC observed in secukinumab-treated patients are consistent with those reported in the literature for PsO, PsA, and AS patients,” the authors write in the abstract.

Disclosures:

The study was sponsored by Novartis Pharma AG. The authors disclose a number of other conflicts of interest.

References:

S. Schreiber, B. E. Sands, et al.  “No Increased Incidence Of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Among Secukinumab-Treated Patients With Moderate To Severe Psoriasis, Psoriatic Arthritis, Or Ankylosing Spondylitis: Data From 14 Phase 2 And Phase 3 Clinical Studies.” EULAR 2016. Abstract number OP0113.