Two successful phase 3 trials have strengthened Bristol Myers Squibb’s bid for Sotyktu in psoriatic arthritis. The company revealed promising data from one of the trials at the American Academy of Dermatology's annual meeting in Orlando.
Three months after Bristol Myers Squibb revealed the success of two phase 3 trials of its oral targeted therapy Sotyktu in psoriatic arthritis (PsA), the company has presented detailed data from one of the studies.In the POETYK PsA-2 trial, a significantly greater proportion of those on Sotyktu experienced at least a 20% improvement in their disease than those on placebo. At Week 16, 54% of those on Sotuktu reached the ACR20 response standard compared to 39% on placebo.Additionally, there were no new safety signals as the profile with Sotyktu through week 16 was consistent with previous studies for the tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor, including a phase 2 trial in PsA and a phase 3 study in plaque psoriasis, which set up Sotyktu for its 2022 approval in the indication. The drug also succeeded on secondary endpoints, with significantly more Sotyktu patients compared to placebo achieving a 75% reduction in symptoms as measured by the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI). Those on Sotyktu also experienced better outcomes in the patient-reported Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI) measure compared with those on placebo, BMS reported.“Given the complex, multifaceted and heterogenous nature of psoriatic arthritis, there continues to be a significant need for safe and effective oral treatments,” Philip Mease, M.D., a clinical professor at the University of Washington, said in a March 8 press release. “These results are particularly encouraging because they support the potential for Sotyktu to impact both joint and skin symptoms, as well as patient-reported quality of life outcomes.”The data were presented Saturday at the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting in Orlando.POETYK PsA-2 enrolled 730 patients who had not used a biologic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug (bDMARD) or who had previously used a TNF blocker such as AbbVie's Humira. The study also included an arm who received Amgen’s oral PDE4 inhibitor Otezla for a safety reference with no efficacy comparison.BMS said it will present additional data from the POETYK trial program later this year. The company also recently touted the success of the POETYK PsA-1 study in 670 patients who were bDMARD-naive.The drugmaker did not offer a timeline of when it might file for regulatory approval to treat PsA.While there are a multitude of products on the market to treat PsA, in recent years oral therapies have gained the most focus, starting with Otezla, which was brought to the market by Celgene in 2014 before that company sold to BMS for $74 billion in 2019. To clear competition hurdles surrounding the merger, Celgene sold the Otezla franchise to Amgen for $13.4 billion. The plaque psoriasis approval of Sotyktu—which came with BMS estimating its peak sales potential in multiple indications at $4 billion—was based on it outperforming Otezla in skin clearance and safety measures in a head-to-head trial.So far, the uptake of Sotyktu hasn’t quite matched up to the lofty projection, with sales increasing 45% to $246 million in 2024. Meanwhile, Otezla generated $2.1 billion last year, a 3% drop from 2023.Another potential candidate from the same TYK2 class is Takeda’s TAK-279, which the company gained in a $4 billion acquisition of Nimbus Lakshmi.While it’s difficult to make assumptions from cross-trial comparisons, Takeda’s phase 2b study of TAK-279 in PsA showed a marked difference in efficacy when compared to placebo. TAK-279 produced ARC20 response rates of 53% (15 mg) and 54% (30 mg) at Week 12 versus 29% for placebo. Johnson & Johnson also has an oral peptide candidate making noise in JNJ-2113, an IL-23 antagonist. In fact, at the same AAD meeting this weekend, J&J and its partner Protagonist Therapeutics touted topline results for head-to-head trials of the investigational drug against Sotyktu in plaque psoriasis. In a note to clients, Leerink Partners analysts said the outcome "was fully expected based upon historical trial results."J&J's drug, also known as icotrokinra, also met the mark in a separate study in ulcerative colitis.For its part, BMS is also investigating Sotyktu as a treatment for other autoimmune diseases including discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjögren’s syndrome. BMS has advanced its DLE study to phase 2, while the others are in phase 3.