Brodalumab at the EULAR 2013

If I look at what I’ve written half a year ago concerning brodalumab, I guess, I’ve been quite right: http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/12/brodalumab-at-acr-2012-in-washington.html. “I think brodalumab is a dead end for rheumatoid arthritis though it might be useful in other diseases.” There has been just one study on brodalumab in the treatment of psoriatic arthritis as it targets IL-17, which plays a role "in the pathogenesis and ongoing inflammation of psoriatic disease".

P. J. Mease and colleagues presented the following study [OP0103]: “Efficacy of brodalumab, an anti-il-17r antibody, in subjects with psoriatic arthritis”. In results we read: “ACR20 was achieved at week 12 by 37% and 39% of subjects in the 140- and 280-mg brodalumab groups, respectively, compared with 18% of subjects in the pbo group (p < .05).” Conclusions: “Brodalumab treatment was associated with significant clinical response and acceptable safety profile in subjects with PsA.”

The ACR20 response isn’t very high, but nevertheless there’s a significant difference between placebo and brodalumab in both dosings. So I agree with the authors, that brodalumab warrants further evaluation for treatment of psoriatic arthritis.