What is "secukinumab"

n. A human monoclonal antibody designed for the treatment of uveitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis.

Secukinumab, trade name Cosentyx, is a human monoclonal antibody that binds to the protein interleukin (IL)-17A, and is manufactured by Novartis Pharma AG for the treatment of psoriasis. The drug is also being investigated as a treatment for uveitis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and psoriatic arthritis. It targets member A form of the cytokine family of interleukin 17, severely inhibiting its functioning. It is highly specific to the human immunoglobulin G1k (IgG1k) subclass. On January 21, 2015, the United States, the federal Food and Drug Administration announced that it had approved secukinumab to treat adults with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.

In July 2014 secukinumab established superiority to placebo and to etanercept for the treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis in Phase III clinical trials. In October 2014, the FDA Dermatologic and Ophthalmic Drugs Advisory Committee unanimously voted to recommend the drug for FDA approval, although this vote in and of itself does not constitute an approval. However, the FDA typically follows recommendations from these committees. In October 2014, Novartis announced that the drug had achieved a primary clinical endpoint in two phase III clinical trials for ankylosing spondylitis. As of 28 October, the relevant FDA committee had not yet responded to these results. In early November 2014, Novartis also released the results of a Phase 3 study on psoriatic arthritis that yielded promising results.

Although the drug was originally intended to treat rheumatoid arthritis, phase II clinical trials for this condition yielded disappointing results. Similarly, while patients in a phase II clinical trial for psoriatic arthritis did show improvement over placebo, the improvement did not meet adequate endpoints.

A phase II clinical trial for multiple sclerosis completed in 2014 as it had exhibited efficacy in treating experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS. Results of this trial have not yet been reported as of April 2015