Treatment of plaque psoriasis with deucravacitinib (POETYK PSO-2 study): a plain language summary.

What Is This Summary About?: This is a summary of a paper published in a medical journal that describes the results of a study called POETYK PSO-2, which investigated a new treatment for plaque psoriasis. Plaque psoriasis appears on the body as dry, discolored, patches of skin that can be flaky and covered in scales. This can make the skin itch, crack or bleed and make it difficult for people with psoriasis to perform basic everyday tasks.

Deucravacitinib versus placebo and apremilast in moderate to severe plaque psoriasis: Efficacy and safety results from the 52-week, randomized, double-blinded, phase 3 Program fOr Evaluation of TYK2 inhibitor psoriasis second trial.

Background: Deucravacitinib, an oral, selective, allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 inhibitor, inhibits cytokine signaling in psoriasis pathogenesis.

Objective: The objective of this study was to demonstrate deucravacitinib superiority versus placebo and apremilast in moderate to severe plaque psoriasis based on ≥75% reduction from baseline in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index and a static Physician's Global Assessment score of 0 (clear) or 1 (almost clear) with a ≥2-point improvement from baseline at week 16.

Methods: POETYK psoriasis second trial (NCT03611751), a 52-week, double-blinded, phase 3 trial, randomized patients 2:1:1 to deucravacitinib 6 mg every day (n = 511), placebo (n = 255), or apremilast 30 mg twice a day (n = 254).