Novartis study shows sustained benefits of Cosentyx in psoriatic arthritis

Novartis has announced new clinical trial data demonstrating the long-term benefits its drug Cosentyx can offer for psoriatic arthritis patients.

In the first year of a three-year open-label extension study, it was shown that 77 percent of patients treated with Cosentyx achieved the targeted response rate, with 95 percent of patients completing the first year of the trial.

The strong response rates were consistent from year one to year three, independent of whether patients received an anti-TNF prior to receiving Cosentyx, with patient-reported pain levels also shown to be encouraging.

Previous data indicated that up to 80 percent of ankylosing spondylitis patients and 84 percent of psoriatic arthritis patients treated with Cosentyx at two years had no radiographic progression in the spine or joints respectively.

Vasant Narasimhan, global head of drug development and chief medical officer at Novartis, said: "Cosentyx provides much-needed pain relief and also delivers high and long-lasting skin clearance for psoriasis, which the majority of people with psoriatic arthritis also suffer from."

Cosentyx is the first IL-17A inhibitor approved in more than 55 countries for the treatment of active ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis.

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