Secukinumab, a human anti-IL-17A monoclonal antibody, for moderate to severe Crohn's disease: unexpected results of a randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled trial (original) (raw)

Original articles

Inflammatory bowel disease

Secukinumab, a human anti-IL-17A monoclonal antibody, for moderate to severe Crohn's disease: unexpected results of a randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled trial

Loading

  1. Wolfgang Hueber1,
  2. Bruce E Sands2,
  3. Steve Lewitzky3,
  4. Marc Vandemeulebroecke4,
  5. Walter Reinisch5,
  6. Peter D R Higgins6,
  7. Jan Wehkamp7,
  8. Brian G Feagan8,
  9. Michael D Yao9,
  10. Marek Karczewski10,
  11. Jacek Karczewski10,
  12. Nicole Pezous4,
  13. Stephan Bek1,
  14. Gerard Bruin1,
  15. Bjoern Mellgard1,
  16. Claudia Berger1,
  17. Marco Londei11,
  18. Arthur P Bertolino1,
  19. Gervais Tougas4,
  20. Simon P L Travis12,
  21. for the Secukinumab in Crohn's Disease Study Group
  22. 1Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Basel, Switzerland
  23. 2Mount Sinai Medical Centre, New York, USA
  24. 3Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
  25. 4Novartis Pharma, Basel, Switzerland
  26. 5Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria
  27. 6University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
  28. 7IKB Robert-Bosch-Krankenhaus, Stuttgart, Germany
  29. 8Robarts Research Institute University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
  30. 9National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
  31. 10Solumed Research Unit, Poznan, Poland
  32. 11Novartis Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, San Diego, USA
  33. 12Translational Gastroenterology Unit, Nuffield Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  34. Correspondence to Dr Wolfgang Hueber, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Basel, Switzerland; wolfgang.hueber{at}novartis.com

Abstract

Objective The authors tested whether the anti-interleukin (IL)-17A monoclonal antibody secukinumab was safe and effective for the treatment of active Crohn's disease.

Design In a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled proof-of-concept study, 59 patients with moderate to severe Crohn's disease (Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) ≥220 to ≤450) were assigned in a 2:1 ratio to 2×10 mg/kg intravenous secukinumab or placebo. The primary end point, addressed by Bayesian statistics augmented with historical placebo information, was the probability that secukinumab reduces the CDAI by ≥50 points more than placebo at week 6. Ancillary analyses explored associations of 35 candidate genetic polymorphisms and faecal calprotectin response.

Results 59 patients (39 secukinumab, 20 placebo, mean baseline CDAI 307 and 301, respectively) were recruited. 18/59 (31%) patients discontinued prematurely (12/39 (31%) secukinumab, 6/20 (30%) placebo), 10/59 (17%) due to insufficient therapeutic effect (8/39 (21%) secukinumab, 2/20 (10%) placebo). Fourteen serious adverse events occurred in 10 patients (seven secukinumab, three placebo); 20 infections, including four local fungal infections, were seen on secukinumab versus none on placebo. Primary end point analysis estimated <0.1% probability (∆CDAI (SD) =33.9 (19.7), 95% credible interval −4.9 to 72.9) that secukinumab reduces CDAI by ≥50 points more than placebo. Secondary area under the curve analysis (weeks 4–10) showed a significant difference (mean ΔCDAI=49; 95% CI (2 to 96), p=0.043) in favour of placebo. Post hoc subgroup analysis showed that unfavourable responses on secukinumab were driven by patients with elevated inflammatory markers (CRP≥10 mg/l and/or faecal calprotectin≥200 ng/ml; mean ΔCDAI=62; 95% CI (−1 to 125), p=0.054 in favour of placebo). Absence of the minor allele of tumour necrosis factor-like ligand 1A was strongly associated with lack of response measured by baseline-adjusted changes in calprotectin at week 6 (p=0.00035 Bonferroni-corrected).

Conclusions Blockade of IL-17A was ineffective and higher rates of adverse events were noted compared with placebo.

Clinical trial registration This trial was registered at ClinicalTrial.gov with the number NCT01009281.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Linked Articles

Read the full text or download the PDF:

Log in using your username and password

Read the full text or download the PDF:

Log in using your username and password