Deucravacitinib for Psoriatic Arthritis Improves Patient-Reported Outcomes

Arthritis Care & Research published results from a randomized trial investigating outcomes of deucravacitinib in patients with active psoriatic arthritis compared with placebo.

In total, 203 patients were randomized to either deucravacitinib 6 mg once daily, 12 mg once daily, or placebo. Treatment continued for 16 weeks. The primary end point was patient-reported outcomes (PROs) at week 16. Outcomes included the Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI) and the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) physical component summary score. Other PROs were used to assess fatigue, pain, and mental health. The investigators assessed the mean change from baseline in PROs at week 16, as well as the percentage of patients who reported improving with a minimum clinically important difference (MCID) or PRO scores that were greater than normative values.

Fifty-one percent of included patients were female, and the mean age was 49.8 years. At week 16, each deucravacitinib treatment group had a significant change from baseline compared with placebo. For HAQ-DI, the mean difference versus placebo at week 16 was −0.26 in the 6-mg group (95% CI, −0.42 to −0.10; P=.0020) and −0.28 in the 12-mg group (95% CI, −0.45 to −0.12; P=.0008). For SF-36, the mean difference versus placebo was 3.3 mg (95% CI, 0.9-5.7; P=.0062) and 3.5 mg (95% CI, 1.1-5.9; P=.0042) in the 6-mg and 12-mg groups, respectively.

At either dose of deucravacitinib, patients achieved an MCID in improved scores from baseline for all PROs. “Improvements of MCID or to normative values were reported by more patients receiving deucravacitinib than placebo,” the authors noted.

In summary, they wrote, “Deucravacitinib demonstrated significant and clinically meaningful improvements in PROs versus placebo in patients with active [psoriatic arthritis] and warrants further study.”