Lilly reports positive clinical data for new psoriasis drug

Lilly has announced that its new psoriasis drug ixekizumab has met all primary and key secondary objectives across three pivotal phase III studies.

The investigational medicine was recently evaluated as part of a clinical trial programme called UNCOVER, which involved 3,866 patients and represented the largest phase III moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis programme to date.

Up to 41 percent of those treated with ixekizumab were able to achieve clear skin at week 12, with just one injection per dose. The drug was also shown to be superior to an established alternative product on all measures of skin clearance in both active comparator studies.

Based on these positive findings, the company is now planning to move ahead with regulatory submissions for the new drug in the first half of 2015.

David Ricks, the company's senior vice-president and president of the Lilly Bio-Medicines division, said: "These results give us confidence that if approved, ixekizumab could make complete resolution of psoriasis possible for significantly more people."

This comes after the firm received tentative US approval earlier this week for Basaglar, a new diabetes therapy it has developed in partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim.