Lilly’s Taltz meets endpoints in phase 4 plaque psoriasis test

Eli Lilly’s Taltz met the primary and all major secondary endpoints up to week 12 in the Phase 4 IXORA-R study, testing Taltz versus TREMFYA (guselkumab) in people living with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (PsO), Lilly said Tuesday in a press release.

The IXORA-R trial is the first completed head-to-head (H2H) trial between an IL-17A inhibitor and an IL-23/p19 inhibitor using the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) 100 score as the primary endpoint.

At 12 weeks, Taltz (ixekizumab) met the primary endpoint by demonstrating superiority in the proportion of patients achieving complete skin clearance compared to TREMFYA as measured by PASI 100, Lilly said. In addition, Taltz met all major secondary endpoints up to week 12, which include superiority over TREMFYA in the proportion of patients achieving PASI 75 at Week 2, PASI 90 at Weeks 4 and 8, PASI 100 at Weeks 4 and 8, static Physician’s Global Assessment (sPGA) 0 at Week 12 and PASI 50 at Week 1. Lilly said it plans to share results on the remaining key secondary endpoint of proportion of patients achieving PASI 100 at 24 weeks in 2020.

“Completely clear skin and rapid relief of symptoms are possible for many people living with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, and should be two topics dermatologists discuss with their patients,” said Andrew Blauvelt, M.D., M.B.A., dermatologist and president of Oregon Medical Research Center in Portland, OR.

Lotus Mallbris, vice president of immunology development at Lilly, said: “And research shows that patients want clear skin and rapid improvements. We’re pleased to see that Taltz helped more people achieve 100 percent skin clearance compared to TREMFYA at week 12. These positive results reinforce that Taltz is an important treatment option for people with this disease.”