Drug survival of secukinumab, ustekinumab, and certolizumab pegol in psoriasis: a 2-year, monocentric, retrospective study

Objective: To investigate the drug survival of secukinumab (SEC), ustekinumab (UST), and certolizumab pegol (CZP) in real-world conditions and to identify the predictors and reasons for treatment discontinuation. Methods: We performed a 2-year retrospective single-center analysis of 110 treatment courses in 98 patients with moderate to severe plaque-type psoriasis and/or psoriatic arthritis (SEC n = 68; UST n = 29; and CZP n = 13). Drug survival was examined using the Kaplan-Meier analysis and the influence of demographic factors on drug survival with Cox regression analysis. Results: Drug survival rates at 12 and 18 months were respectively 68.5% and 59% for the entire study population, 85% and 69% for UST, 68% and 59% for SEC, and 34% for CZP. Both UST and SEC showed a significantly longer survival rate compared to CZP (p<.05), but not between each other. A total of 30 treatment discontinuations were observed, predominantly due to loss of efficacy and adverse events. Treatment selection predicted the survival rate. Other predictors could not be identified. Conclusions: Drug survival is the resultant of many factors such as long-term effectiveness, safety, compliance, and convenience of use. UST and SEC had higher retention rates in comparison with CZP.