Among all volunteers with some degree of ixekizumab exposure, 6.7% had a serious adverse event; 4.4% discontinued the study because of side effects.
Just under 20% had nasopharyngitis, 10.0% had an upper respiratory tract infection, 10.4% had an injection site reaction, 6.5% reported headache and 5.2% had arthralgia.
Neutropenia rates were 8.6% (grade one), 2.6% (grade 2), 0.2% (grade 3) and 0.1% (grade 4).
Candida infections were also more common among ixekizumab recipients.
Dr. Gordon said the volunteers will continue to be followed beyond 60 weeks.
The drug works by blocking a protein that causes inflammation, which is believed to play a role in development of the autoimmune disorder characterized by red skin and thick, unsightly, scaly white patches.
Lilly spokesman J. Scott MacGregor says the list price will be about $4,000 per month depending on the stage of treatment, although costs to patients would actually be much lower because of discounts and because of the company’s co-pay assistance program.
“We don’t want out-of-pocket cost to prevent patients from getting Taltz,” MacGregor says in an email.
