Bristol Myers Squibb’s experimental psoriasis treatment has hit the main goals of a late-stage trial.
The company reported this week that the oral treatment, deucravacitinib, succeeded in both reducing the severity and duration of psoriasis after 16 weeks. The drug outperformed a placebo by a significant margin and scored better than Amgen’s Otezla, a rival treatment.
Deucravacitinib works by inhibiting TYK2, an intracellular kinase linked to several cytokines related to inflammation and immune responses. BSM has thus reasoned that deucravacitinib could become a viable treatment for a range of ailments including inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis and lupus — and potentially a blockbuster.
The company is expecting to report results from a second head-to-head trial against Otezla in the first quarter of 2021.
Read the full Reuters report.