A psoriasis medicine just won a second job — easing the joint pain of psoriatic arthritis

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Ilumya (tildrakizumab) for adults with active psoriatic arthritis, a long-term condition in which the immune system attacks the joints, causing pain, swelling and stiffness that can lead to lasting damage. About one in three people with the skin condition psoriasis develops it, and its maker Sun Pharma estimates as many as 2.4 million people in the USA live with it. In two large late-stage trials, INSPIRE-1 and INSPIRE-2, with more than 800 participants between them, the treatment beat a placebo on the standard measure of improvement — at least a 20% easing of symptoms after 24 weeks — and raised no new safety concerns. A clinician gives it as an injection, first at weeks 0 and 4 and then just once every 12 weeks, which suits people who cannot inject themselves at home. The same medicine has been used for plaque psoriasis since 2018, so doctors already know it well.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation