Effectiveness and safety of secukinumab in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis - a real life retrospective study

Introduction: Clinical experience indicates that secukinumab has significant efficacy in the treatment of moderate to-severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, demonstrating a rapid onset of action, sustained response, a favourable safety profile, and an improvement of patients' quality of life. Aim: To analyse the effects of skin lesions, signs and symptoms of arthritis, quality of life and safety of treatment in patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis treated with secukinumab. Material and methods: The study included 38 subjects, 21 with psoriasis (PV) and 17 with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) who received >= 1 dose of secukinumab. We assessed response to secukinumab treatment by the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI), body surface area (BSA), the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), moreover in patients with PsA, we also assessed 5-point Likert scale and joint tenderness and swelling. We evaluated the safety profile of secukinumab by assessing laboratory tests and monitoring adverse reactions. Results: In patients with PV a statistically significant decrease in PASI (from 21.46 points to 0.84 point), BSA (from 22.38% to 0.8%), DLQI (from 20.57 points to 0.33 point) was observed. In patients with PsA a statistically significant decrease in PASI (from 13.41 points to 0.0 point), BSA (from 14.59% to 1.0%) and DLQI (from 17.76 points to 0.67 point) was observed. We noticed three incidences of adverse events. Conclusions: Our results prove that secukinumab offers a good therapeutic opportunity and may be a preferred treatment option for patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.