Novartis' Cosentyx lost a race against Eli Lilly's Taltz after the latter scored an FDA approval in spondyloarthritis earlier this week. But Cosentyx, which facesan FDA review in that indication, is touting long-term data that will help it keep the pressure on Lilly's rival.<\/p>\n
The drugbestedplacebo atreducing the symptoms ofnon-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis in patients after 52 weeks, according to long-term data from the phase 3 Prevent study released Thursday at the European League Against Rheumatology (EULAR)meeting.<\/p>\n
The 52-week data adds to earlier 16-week data that showed Cosentyx significantly reduced disease symptoms over placebo. More than 35%of patients treated with Cosentyx hit the study's primary endpoint of reducing a targeted set of disease symptoms at 52 weeks compared with 19% of patients taking placebo. At 16 weeks, 42.2% of patients hit the same markversus 29.2% for placebo.<\/p>\n
Cosentyx notched a European MedicinesAgency approval to treat non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis in April and has already filed for regulatory approval in the U.S. and Japan.<\/p>\n
The newest Cosentyx data will keep things competitive with Lilly's Taltz, which scored an FDA approval earlier this week as the first IL-17 inhibitor green-lighted in that indication.<\/p>\n
RELATED:Eli Lilly's Taltz beats Novartis to the punch with FDA approval in spondyloarthritis<\/p>\n
Taltz won its approval based onresults from the phase 3 Coast-X trial, which showed 30% of patients treated with Taltz saw reduced targeted disease symptoms after 52 weeks of treatment compared with 13% of patients treated with placebo.<\/p>\n
At 16 weeks, 35% of Taltz patients stayed above that mark compared with 19% of placebo patients.<\/p>\n
Non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis is believed to affect more than 1 million U.S. patients each year, Lilly said.An FDA approval for Cosentyx would be the drug'sfourth, as it was for Taltz; both drugs are also cleared in psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and psoriasis.<\/p>\n
In March, UCBs anti-TNF antibody Cimzia became the first FDA-approved drugfor non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis. But that drug carries a boxed warning about the increased risk of serious infections.<\/p>\n
RELATED:Novartis' Cosentyx can't top AbbVie's Humira in head-to-head psoriatic arthritis contest<\/p>\n
Lilly and Novartis are not only jockeying for position in spondyloarthritis. The companies are also battling it out across their other indications.<\/p>\n
In June, Lilly posted head-to-head phase 3 trial data showing TaltzbestedAbbVie's megablockbuster Humira at reducing psoriatic disease activity by half and completely clearing patient skin after 24 weeks. Lilly also went after Johnson & Johnson's Tremfya in psoriasis with a round of phase 4 data, showing in early August its drug hadtoppedTremfya at achieving total skin clearance after 12 weeks of treatment.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Cosentyx posted middling results in November in a head-to-head matchup with Humira,failing to outdo AbbVie's behemothin active psoriatic arthritis patients.<\/p>\n
While Cosentyx helped more patients numerically reach ACR20a benchmark on a commonly used scale from the American College of Rheumatology to measure joint swelling and moreits lead wasnt statistically relevant, Novartis said.<\/p>\n
Editors' Note: This story has been updated to correct an error.<\/p>\n
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Continued here: Novartis' Cosentyx lost a race against Eli Lilly's Taltz after the latter scored an FDA approval in spondyloarthritis earlier this week. But Cosentyx, which facesan FDA review in that indication, is touting long-term data that will help it keep the pressure on Lilly's rival. The drugbestedplacebo atreducing the symptoms ofnon-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis in patients after 52 weeks, according to long-term data from the phase 3 Prevent study released Thursday at the European League Against Rheumatology (EULAR)meeting Continue reading
\nNovartis' Cosentyx chases Lilly's just-approved Taltz with long-term data in spondyloarthritis - FiercePharma<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"