Key clinical point: Patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) who initiated secukinumab treatment had stable improvements in synovitis and sustained clinical improvements in enthesitis up to week 52.
Major finding: At week 12, secukinumab vs placebo led to significant improvements in power Doppler ultrasound (PDUS)-assessed synovitis (Global EULAR-OMERACT Synovitis Score: −9 vs −6; one-sided P = .004) and PDUS-assessed enthesitis (Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada enthesitis index score: −2.2 vs −1.6; one-sided P = .03), with the improvements being sustained up to week 52.
Study details: This 52-week, phase 3 ULTIMATE study included 166 patients with active PsA, who were naive to biologics and intolerant to conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs and were randomly assigned to receive secukinumab or placebo.
Disclosures: This study was funded by Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland. Three authors declared being employees or stockholders of Novartis. Several authors declared ties with various sources, including Novartis. Three authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: D’Agostino MA et al. Effects of secukinumab on synovitis and enthesitis in patients with psoriatic arthritis: 52-week clinical and ultrasound results from the randomised, double-blind ULTIMATE trial with open label extension. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2023;63:152259 (Aug 19). doi: 10.1016/j.semarthrit.2023.152259