For pediatric patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis, ixekizumab is associated with sustained improvements in skin condition, according to a study published online April 13 in JAMA Dermatology .

Amy S. Paller, M.D., from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues conducted a trial involving pediatric patients (aged 6 to <18 years) with moderate-to-severe psoriasis to examine the efficacy and safety of ixekizumab. Patients were randomly assigned to receive a weight-based dose of ixekizumab every four weeks or placebo (115 and 56 patients, respectively); after 12 weeks, 166 patients entered a 48-week, open-label ixekizumab maintenance period, followed by an extension period lasting through 108 weeks (139 patients completed the trial).

The researchers found that primary and secondary end points were sustained through 108 weeks, with 91.7, 79.0, and 55.1 percent of patients achieving 75, 90, or 100 percent improvement in the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index, respectively, and 78.3 and 52.4 percent achieving static Physician's Global Assessment scores of 0 or 1 and 0, respectively. Most patients (78.5 percent) reported an improvement of 4 points or higher on the Itch Numeric Rating Scale. At week 108, 68.1, 90.0, 76.2, and 87.5 percent of patients who received ixekizumab reported clearance of nail psoriasis, palmoplantar psoriasis, scalp psoriasis, and genital psoriasis, respectively. No new safety findings were observed between weeks 48 and 108.

"In pediatric patients who received ixekizumab, significant improvements in skin condition and itch were reported at week 12 and were sustained through week 108," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly, which manufactures ixekizumab and funded the study.

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