Treatment adherence and persistence of seven commonly prescribed biologics for moderate to severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in a U.S. commercially insured population

Abstract

Background

Adalimumab (ADA), certolizumab pegol (CER), etanercept (ETA), guselkumab (GUS), ixekizumab (IXE), secukinumab (SEC), and ustekinumab (UST) are biologics approved for the treatment of psoriasis (PsO) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). We examined adherence and persistence among PsO patients with comorbid PsA who initiated treatment with any of these biologics.

Methods

Adult patients with ≥1 pharmacy/medical claim for any of these seven biologics, and ≥1 diagnosis of both PsO and PsA were selected from the MarketScan Commercial database (July 2014–June 2019). Adherence and persistence rates were examined among the seven study cohorts during fixed follow-up periods (3, 6, 9, and 12 months).

Results

Among patients with ≥9 months of continuous enrollment, 3,251 initiated ADA, 418 CER, 1,563 ETA, 126 GUS, 422 IXE, 1,596 SEC, and 1,267 UST. During the 9-month follow-up period, the proportions of adherent patients were numerically highest among those treated with GUS (59.5%) and UST (57.0%), followed by SEC (47.9%), IXE (47.6%), ADA (46.8%), ETA (37.4%), and CER (22.0%); persistence rates were also numerically highest among those treated with GUS (65.9%) and UST (65.7%).

Limitations

Adjustment for potential confounders was not conducted.

Conclusions

Adherence and persistence rates were numerically highest among patients who initiated GUS and UST.

Keywords:

• Adherence
• biologics
• persistence
• psoriasis
• psoriatic arthritis

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Christopher D Pericone of Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC for writing assistance, and Jay Lin and Melissa Lingohr-Smith of Novosys Health for their writing contribution to this manuscript and acknowledge that their contributions were funded by Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC. Additionally, the authors would like to thank Shubham Shrivastava of Mu Sigma Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Bengaluru, India) for programming support, which was also funded by Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC.

Author contributions

Chang Xu, Amanda Teeple, Bingcao Wu, and Timothy Fitzgerald contributed to the study design and interpretation of the results. Chang Xu performed data analysis. Steven R Feldman contributed to the interpretation of the results. All authors read, revised, and approved the final manuscript version for journal submission.

Disclosure statement

Chang Xu, Amanda Teeple, Bingcao Wu, and Timothy Fitzgerald are employees of Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC. Steven R Feldman is a paid consultant of Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC.

Data availability statement

All de-identified data for this research study are contained within the article or are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research and preparation of this manuscript was supported by Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC.