Brodalumab Superior to Ustekinumab on Health-Related Quality of Life for Patients with Psoriasis

A recent study found that patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis being treated with brodalumab showed a significantly greater improvement in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) when compared with patients being treated with ustekinumab.

Both ustekinumab and brodalumab are biologic therapies that have been associated with significantly improved HRQoL in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis, as measured by the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI).

Researchers looked at data from AAMAGINE-2 and -3, both randomized, controlled, phase 3 trials, to compare the HRQoL improvements in patients taking brodalumab to those taking ustekinumab. A total of 929 patients were included in this study, all with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, who had been enrolled in the trials. Over 52 weeks, one group was treated with brodalumab 210 mg (n=339) while the other was treated with ustekinumab 45 or 90 mg (n=590). Patients completed the DLQI questionnaire at baseline and every 4 weeks during the 52-week treatment periods.

A significantly greater reduction of the DLQI score from baseline, which correlates to HRQoL improvement, was observed in the brodalumab group when compared with the ustekinumab group at weeks 4 (least-squares [LS] mean difference, -2.9; 95% CI, −3.6 to  −2.2; P<.001), 12 (LS mean difference, -0.85; 95% CI, −1.5 to −0.2; P=.01), and 52 (LS mean difference, −0.94; 95% CI, −1.6 to −0.2; P=.009). There was also a significantly greater proportion of patients treated with brodalumab who achieved a DLQI score of 0 at weeks 4 (15.0 vs 5.4%; P<.0001), 12 (37.5 vs 28.0%; P=.0140) and 52 (46.3 vs 30.3%; P<.0001), or of 1 or more (DLQI [0/1]: 33.9% vs 15.4%, 59.9% vs 45.6% and 54.9% vs 39.8%, respectively; all P<.0001). Significantly more patients achieved at least a 4 or 5 improvement in DLQI with brodalumab compared with ustekinumab at weeks 4 and 52, as well.

While the results of the AMAGINE-2 and -3 trials have shown that brodalumab provides superior skin clearance to ustekinumab for patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, this is the first that the comparative effect of these therapies on the HRQoL from these trials has been reported.

Reference
Lambert J, Hansen JB, Sohrt A, et al. Dermatology Life Quality Index in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis treated with brodalumab or ustekinumab. Dermatol Ther. 2021;11(4):1265-1275. doi:10.1007/s13555-021-00545-5