Risankizumab—a humanized immunoglobulin G1 monoclonal antibody that specifically inhibits IL-23—improved symptoms of psoriatic arthritis through 52 weeks in patients who had not responded to or were intolerant of one or more conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs or one or two biologic therapies, according to findings from the phase III KEEPsAKE 2 trial published by Östör et al in Rheumatology.
Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive risankizumab or placebo at week 0, 4, and 16 of the trial; at week 24, patients who received placebo were switched to risankizumab, and all patients received risankizumab at 150 mg every 12 weeks from weeks 28 to 208. Patients who received continuous risankizumab achieved ≥ 20%/50%/70% improvement in American College of Rheumatology criteria (ACR20/ACR50/ACR70) at higher rates than patients who first received placebo; placebo-treated patients were allowed to cross over to risankizumab at week 24 and achieved similar rates of ACR20 (55.7%) to patients treated with continuous risankizumab (58.5%) at week 52.
Although KEEPsAKE is still ongoing, the study authors wrote, “In conclusion, results from this 52-week follow-up analysis … demonstrated long-term, durable efficacy of risankizumab in improving symptom control, physical function, and quality of life in patients with active psoriatic arthritis [who had not responded to or were intolerant of conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs or biologic therapies]. Risankizumab was well tolerated, and the long-term safety profile was generally consistent with that observed at week 24.”