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Bimekizumab for the Treatment of Psoriasis

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Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic, systemic, immune-mediated disease, with prominent skin and joint manifestations, associated with several comorbidities. In the past few decades, advances in the knowledge of psoriasis pathogenesis have driven the development of highly effective targeted biologic therapies, transforming the treatment landscape of psoriasis. Bimekizumab is a humanized antibody that selectively binds and neutralizes the biologic functions of interleukin (IL)-17A and IL-17F. This article reviews the current knowledge about bimekizumab in psoriasis treatment. The results obtained in the phase 3 studies (BE VIVID, BE READY, BE RADIANT, BE SURE) corroborate the high levels of efficacy of bimekizumab seen in previous studies, and show superior efficacy over adalimumab, ustekinumab, and secukinumab in direct comparative studies. In all phase 3 trials, bimekizumab was also well tolerated, with a safety profile similar to the other biologic drugs tested, except for a higher frequency of oral candidiasis. Dual inhibition of IL-17A and IL-17F is a highly effective therapeutic option for the treatment of psoriasis, both for naïve patients and for those resistant to previous biologic treatments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Egídio Freitas & Tiago Torres

  2. Oregon Medical Research Center, Portland, OR, USA

    Andrew Blauvelt

  3. Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Tiago Torres

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  1. Egídio Freitas
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Correspondence to Tiago Torres.

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Conflicts of interest

Egídio Freitas has no conflicts of interest. Andrew Blauvelt has served as a scientific adviser and/or clinical study investigator for AbbVie, Abcentra, Aligos, Almirall, Amgen, Arcutis, Arena, Aslan, Athenex, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dermavant, Eli Lilly and Company, Evommune, Forte, Galderma, Incyte, Janssen, Landos, Leo, Novartis, Pfizer, Rapt, Regeneron, Sanofi Genzyme, Sun Pharma, and UCB Pharma. Tiago Torres has received consultancy and/or speaker’s honoraria from and/or participated in clinical trials sponsored by AbbVie, Almirall, Amgen, Arena Pharmaceuticals, Biocad, Biogen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Celgene, Janssen, LEO Pharma, Eli Lilly, MSD, Mylan, Novartis, Pfizer, Samsung-Bioepis, Sanofi-Genzyme, and Sandoz.

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EF, AB, and TT had the idea for the article, performed the literature search and data analysis, and drafted and critically revised the work.

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Freitas, E., Blauvelt, A. & Torres, T. Bimekizumab for the Treatment of Psoriasis. Drugs 81, 1751–1762 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40265-021-01612-z

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