Ixekizumab May Improve Pain & Sexual Health in Patients with Genital Psoriasis

Genital psoriasis is known to cause emotional distress and sexual health problems, but limited data are available on how newer treatments affect patients with genital psoriasis. A study in the June 2020 issue of The Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology examined the use of ixekizumab for genital psoriasis.¹

This study was a post hoc analysis of patients presenting with and without erosions, fissures and/or ulcers in genital lesions. Data originated from a 12-week, phase 3b, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study (IXORA-Q; NCT02718898). Adults (N=149) with moderate to severe genital psoriasis were treated with 80 mg of subcutaneous ixekizumab (n=75) or placebo (n=74) every two weeks. Patient outcomes included disease severity, patient-reported genital pain and itch, and sexual health.

The Data
At baseline, 57 patients (38%) presented with genital erosions, fissures and/or ulcers independent of overall body surface area psoriasis involvement. Patients were 43.7 years of age, and approximately 75% of patients were men. The time since psoriasis onset was 17 years.

For ixekizumab-treated patients, 62% had complete resolution of genital erosions, fissures and/or ulcers at week 1. At week 12, 83% of ixekizumab-treated patients had complete resolution of genital erosions, compared with 25% of placebo-treated patients at week 1 and 21% at week 12. Ixekizumab-treated patients also reported significantly greater improvements in itch, pain, disease severity and sexual health than placebo-treated patients.

This analysis shows ixekizumab may lead to rapid and sustained resolution of erosions, fissures and/or ulcers and improvements in adults with moderate to severe genital psoriasis.

Michele B. Kaufman, PharmD, BCGP, is a freelance medical writer based in New York City and a pharmacist at New York Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital.

Reference

1. Merola JF, Ghislain PD, Dauendorffer JN, et al. Ixekizumab improves secondary lesional signs, pain and sexual health in patients with moderate to severe genital psoriasis. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2020 Jun;34(6):1257–1262.