Pharmacokinetic drug evaluation of brodalumab for the treatment of psoriasis

Introduction: Psoriasis is now understood to also be under the driving influence of the IL-17/IL-23 axis, and the medical breakthrough of novel IL-17 inhibitor medications signals a paradigm shift in the way psoriatic patients are managed medically. Brodalumab, a fully human Chinese hamster ovary cell-derived immunoglobulin G2 (IgG2) anti-IL-17RA monoclonal antibody, is currently the most-developed treatment that binds to the IL-17RA. The authors review and provide updates of efficacy and safety by several studies on brodalumab. Areas covered: A PubMed search was performed for relevant literature. Among the trials of brodalumab, the most common adverse events included nasopharyngitis, headache, upper respiratory tract infection, and arthralgia. Suicidal ideation and completed suicides had been observed in the brodalumab programme, although evidence to date was quoted as not suggesting a causal association. Expert opinion: Brodalumab provides an important new therapy for management of psoriasis, because there remains a significant unmet patient need for new agents that can provide novel mechanisms of action, rapid onset of effect, improved, and sustained total skin clearance, greater compliance, and minimization of drug-specific safety concerns.