Remibrutinib demonstrates favorable safety profile and sustained efficacy in chronic spontaneous urticaria over 52 weeks

<bold>Background: </bold>Remibrutinib (LOU064), an oral, highly selective Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor, offers fast disease control in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) who remain symptomatic despite treatment with second-generation H1 antihistamines. It is currently in phase 3 development for CSU. <bold>Objective: </bold>We sought to evaluate long-term safety and efficacy of remibrutinib in patients with CSU inadequately controlled with H-1 antihistamines. <bold>Methods: </bold>In this phase 2b extension study, patients who completed the core study and had a weekly Urticaria Activity Score (UAS7) >= 16 at the beginning of the extension study received remibrutinib 100 mg twice daily for 52 weeks. The primary objective was to assess long-term safety and tolerability. Key efficacy end points included change from baseline in UAS7 and proportion of patients with complete response to treatment (UAS7 = 0) and well-controlled disease (UAS7 <= 6) at week 4 and over 52 weeks. <bold>Results: </bold>Overall, 84.3% (194/230) of patients entered the treatment period and received >= 1 doses of remibrutinib. The overall safety profile of remibrutinib was comparable between the extension and core studies. Most treatment-emergent adverse events were mild to moderate and considered unrelated to remibrutinib by investigators. The 3 most common treatment-emergent adverse events by system organ class were infections (30.9%), skin and subcutaneous tissue (26.8%), and gastrointestinal disorders (16.5%). At week 4 and 52, mean +/- SD change from baseline in UAS7 was -17.6 +/- 13.40 and -21.8 +/- 10.70; UAS7 = 0 (as observed) was achieved in 28.2% and 55.8% and UAS7 <= 6 (as observed) was achieved in 52.7% and 68.0% of patients, respectively. <bold>Conclusions: </bold>Remibrutinib demonstrated a consistent favorable safety profile with fast and sustained efficacy for up to 52 weeks in patients with CSU.