Zasocitinib therapy highly efficacious for treatment of severe plaque psoriasis: JAMA

The participants were randomly assigned to one of 5 groups, receiving Zasocitinib at doses of 2 mg, 5 mg, 15 mg, or 30 mg, or a placebo, administered once daily for 12 weeks. The primary goal of the study was to assess the efficacy of the drug by measuring the proportion of patients achieving a 75% or greater improvement in PASI score (PASI 75) by week 12. Secondary endpoints included higher PASI responses (PASI 90 and PASI 100) and safety assessments.

By week 12, PASI 75 was achieved by 68% of patients receiving Zasocitinib at 15 mg and 67% at 30 mg when compared to just 6% of patients in the placebo group. Even at the lower doses of 2 mg and 5 mg, 18% and 44% of patients, respectively, reached PASI 75. These findings demonstrate that Zasocitinib offers a dose-dependent improvement in skin clearance. Further analysis showed that PASI 90 and PASI 100 responses which indicated even greater skin clearance and was consistent with the PASI 75 results. Also, 33% of patients receiving the highest dose of 30 mg achieved complete skin clearance (PASI 100). Overall, the trial suggests that Zasocitinib, particularly at doses of 5 mg or higher, is an effective and well-tolerated oral therapy for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

Reference:

Armstrong, A. W., Gooderham, M., Lynde, C., Maari, C., Forman, S., Green, L., Laquer, V., Zhang, X., Franchimont, N., Gangolli, E. A., Blau, J., Zhao, Y., Zhang, W., Srivastava, B., Heap, G., & Papp, K. (2024). Tyrosine Kinase 2 Inhibition With Zasocitinib (TAK-279) in Psoriasis. In JAMA Dermatology. American Medical Association (AMA). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamadermatol.2024.2701