Secukinumab (AIN-457) for the treatment of Psoriasis

Summary

Secukinumab (also known as AIN-457) is a human monoclonal antibody targeting IL-17A, which has been recently FDA-approved for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis with coexistent moderate to severe plaque psoriasis based on clinical trials demonstrating excellent efficacy. This review will address the rationale for targeting the IL-23/Th17/IL-17 axis, the role of IL-17 and Th17 cells in psoriasis and other chronic inflammatory diseases, and will examine pre-clinical studies, pharmacologic properties, clinical efficacy, and the safety profile of secukinumab.

Keywords:

• IL-17
• secukinumab
• psoriasis
• AIN-457
• pharmacology
• Th 17

Financial and competing interests disclosure

B Elewski has disclosed themselves as an investigator for Amgen, AbbVie, Novartis, Pfizer, Merck and Lilly. Funds to the University. B Elewski is a consultant for Lilly, Pfizer and Novartis. B Elewski has received honorarium. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Key issues

• Secukinumab (also known as AIN-457) is a human monoclonal antibody targeting IL-17A that has been recently FDA-approved for the treatment of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis with coexistent moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, with clinical trials demonstrating excellent clinical efficacy.

• There has been reported success in psoriatic arthritis, hand-foot psoriasis, and nail psoriasis.

• Several clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of secukinumab in various other auto-inflammatory processes such as ankylosing spondylitis and multiple sclerosis have shown promising results.

• There have been increased reports of mild-to-moderate mucocutaneous candidiasis with use of secukinumab along with a few cases of neutropenia, and some reports of exacerbation of existing Crohn’s disease.

• There was no reported increased risk of malignancy with the use of secukinumab.