Revealing patient characteristics and treatment outcomes in ultra-long biologic users for psoriasis.

Abstract

Background: Biologics are effective for psoriasis, but little is known regarding patients treated with one biologic for an "ultra-long" duration.

Objective: To explore the prevalence, patient and treatment characteristics and treatment outcomes of "ultra-long users" of biologics for psoriasis.

Methods: From the prospective, multicenter BioCAPTURE cohort, patients with psoriasis who received continuous treatment with the same biologic for ≥10 years were included. Baseline characteristics of these "ultra-long users" were determined and compared to the total BioCAPTURE population. Additionally, the frequency of concomitant systemic treatment use and dose adjustments administered, the trajectory of Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) scores, and drug survival rates beyond 10 years were analysed.

Results: In BioCAPTURE, 30.5% of the patients with the potential to reach a treatment episode of ≥10 years achieved this treatment duration. These patients were treated with ustekinumab, etanercept, adalimumab and infliximab. The proportion of ultra-long users was highest for ustekinumab (37%). The ultra-long user cohort had a slightly longer disease duration at registry entry, and higher proportion of males and patients diagnosed with PsA, compared to the total BioCAPTURE population. A large percentage of ultra-long users (69.5%) had ≥1 comorbidities and 66% used no additional systemic antipsoriatic therapy. Dose adjustments were often applied, varying from dose escalation (30%), dose reduction (41%), or both (14%); only 16% consistently used the standard dose. The median PASI course for ultra-long users from month 6 onwards was continuously <3, with only a small proportion achieving complete clearance of their psoriasis (3.9-13.7% at the various time points). Drug survival beyond 10 years showed >60% was still treated with the same biologic after 15 years.

Conclusion: Ultra-long use of the same biologic in patients with psoriasis was common in real-world practice, but varied between biologics. The median PASI was around 2.5 throughout the 10-year treatment course; complete clearance was often not reached. Remarkably, ultra-long use was reached also in patients having multiple comorbidities (including PsA) and a variety of dose adjustments of the biologics was applied. These results provide clinicians with important evidence on ultra-long biological treatment, thereby improving psoriasis care and management of treatment expectations.