Novartis’ Cosentyx Shows Very Little Radiographic Progression in Ankylosing Spondylitis Patients

Novartis recently reported that long-term radiographic data from a clinical trial showed that treatment of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) with Cosentyx (secukinumab) resulted in no disease progression in a vast majority of the patients analyzed.

The multi-center, Phase 3 MEASURE I study (NCT01358175) showed that almost 80 percent of AS patients treated with Cosentyx had no disease progression according to radiography results of the spine at four years. The treatment also showed an appropriate safety profile.

Results from the MEASURE I trial were presented at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2017) in Spain. Data presented also showed that the drug improves both signs and symptoms of AS.

After the 2-year MEASURE I trial, 274 patients entered into a three-year extension period. Analysis of data from this extension study showed that over 208 weeks of treatment with Cosentyx, almost 80 percent of the patients demonstrated no radiographic progression of the disease. These results were consistent with patient-reported pain measures.

Long-term data from this study was presented at the ongoing 2017 American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ACR/ARHP) Annual Meeting in San Diego (Nov. 3-8).

“For the first time for any biologic, Cosentyx shows that almost 80 percent of patients had no radiographic progression for as long as 4 years. These data demonstrate the potential of Cosentyx to help patients live with less pain and retain their mobility for longer” Vas Narasimhan, MD, said in a press release. Narasihman is global head of Drug Development and chief medical officer at Novartis.

Cosentyx is the first and only inhibitor of IL-17A that has been approved for the treatment of AS in several countries, including the U.S. and the European Union. IL-17A is a factor known to play a significant role in the development of AS.

“The key finding of these data is that patients treated with Cosentyx may now have the opportunity to maintain their mobility for a longer time. This is very important as ankylosing spondylitis is a crippling condition that can impact people in their twenties when they still have many decades of their life ahead of them,” Narasimhan said.

AS is a chronic, inflammatory disease that can cause serious movement impairment in the spine and joints, affecting the patient’s mobility, physical function and quality of life. The progression of the disease is usually assessed through imaging techniques like radiography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).