The investigational selective tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor deucravacitinib showed superiority over apremilast in two Phase III psoriasis trials.

The trials, known as POETYK PSO-1 and POETYK PSO-2, aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of deucravacitinib compared to placebo and apremilast moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis patients.

In the POETYK PSO-1 and POETYK PSO-2 studies, at week 16, 58.7% and 53.6% of patients receiving deucravacitinib achieved Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) 75 response compared with 35.1% and 40.2% receiving apremilast, respectively.

At week 24, the benefits were even more profound, with 69.0% and 59.3% of patients receiving deucravacitinib achieving PASI 75 response versus 38.1% and 37.8% for people on apremilast treatment. 

Also at week 16, 53.6% and 50.3% of deucravacitinib-treated patients achieved a static Physician's Global Assessment score of clear or almost clear (sPGA 0/1), compared with 32.1% and 34.3% for in the apremilast group. 

On the same measure at week 24, 58.4% and 50.4% of patients receiving deucravacitinib treatment achieved sPGA 0/1 response, respectively, an improvement over the 31.0% and 29.5% achieved by patients receiving apremilast.

“In both pivotal studies, deucravacitinib was superior to [apremilast] across multiple endpoints, including measures of durability and maintenance of response, suggesting that deucravacitinib has the potential to become a new oral standard of care for patients who require systemic therapy and need a better oral option for their moderate to severe plaque psoriasis,” said April Armstrong, associate dean and professor of dermatology at the University of Southern California. 

“As many patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis remain undertreated or even untreated, it is also highly encouraging to see that deucravacitinib improved patient symptoms and outcomes to a greater extent than [apremilast],” she added.