Long-Term Bimekizumab Data Offer New Hope for HS Management

Founding chairman of Northwell Health’s Department of Dermatology, Dr. Commenting on the data supporting UCB’s companion biologic license application for bimekuzimab (Bimzelyx) for approval of the drug in the treatment of moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), Amit Garg said: “These are patients who got their lives back, and this is a truly remarkable result… We can’t tell patients very often.”

He discusses dual interleukins in part 2 of our interview with Garg, who is also senior vice president of the Dermatology Service at Northwell Health and a professor in the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research Center for Health Innovations and Outcomes Research at Northwell Health. The potential for 17A and 17F inhibitors to significantly alter outcomes for patients.

The interview has been edited for clarity.

Transcript text

How do open-label extension data from the BE HEARD trial shape future long-term treatment strategies?

My conclusion from the open-label extension data was that bimekizumab demonstrated both durability and consistency in treating patients with moderate to severe HS over 96 weeks. Both of these outcomes are critical to the management of a disease. as we discussedThis disease, with a very high symptom burden, is chronic and will likely be progressive if not adequately treated. So I think the 96-week findings provide important direction for patients and physicians in outlining a long-term treatment strategy for HS.

What key results from the trial might influence how clinicians prioritize patient-reported outcomes when evaluating bimekizumab?

One of the results that impressed me most about bimekizumab was its effect on drainage tunnels, one of the most severe types of lesions for HS patients. So, when patients report their results, most of the time what they report is about the burden of tunneling and the burden of drainage and odor from tunneling. In long-term data, patients treated with bimekizumab showed an almost 75% reduction in the number of drainage tunnels at 2 years.

Therefore, it is not surprising that after 2 years of bimekizumab treatment, one-third of HS patients reported that their disease had no impact on their lives. Simply put, these are patients who are getting their lives back, and this is a truly remarkable outcome for patients with moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa. We don’t often get to say this to patients.

How might these findings guide clinical decisions about transitioning patients to less frequent dosing while maintaining effective disease control?

There are a few things to consider here. First, patients taking a biologic drug such as (anti-)TNF (tumor necrosis factor-α) adalimumab on a weekly basis may soon experience this condition, especially for patients who respond inadequately to their treatment. They have the option to switch to bimekizumab, a monthly administration; Of course, they are waiting for approval from a regulatory agency.

We don’t yet know what the FDA will say about how it should be used, but one option we hope for as clinicians is the ability to speed up treatment once patients start on medication, for example. – monthly dosing with bimekizumab is going well but could be better, we would love the option to move to twice monthly or every 2 weeks dosing to try to get a better or truly adequate result. response to treatment.