NICE recommends Novartis Cosentyx? (secukinumab) for children and young people with moderate to severe psoriasis
- Around 22,000 children and young people1?in England and Wales living with moderate to severe psoriasis, a chronic skin condition that can greatly impact quality of life, now have access to Cosentyx??(secukinumab) on the NHS after a recommendation from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)2
- Cosentyx is the first interleukin-17A (IL-17A) inhibitor to be recommended by NICE as a cost-effective treatment for moderate to severe psoriasis from childhood1
- Psoriasis can have a significant impact on physical, psychological and social wellbeing affecting a young person?s ability to take part in everyday activities like going to school3
London, UK,?3rd September 2021??Novartis today announced that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended Cosentyx??(secukinumab) as an option for treating moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in people aged 6 to 17 years who have not responded to other forms of systemic treatment or for whom these options were contraindicated or not tolerated. Children and young people will now have access to this treatment option on the NHS2.
Plaque psoriasis is a chronic condition that can cause flaky, itchy plaques all over a person?s body. Symptoms can be persistent with people suffering from unpredictable flare-ups that affect their physical and emotional wellbeing. Around 22,000 children and young people in the UK1, and up to 350,000 children worldwide4, experience this form of psoriasis, with onset most common during adolescence3.
Doctor Anthony Bewley, Dermatologist at Barts Health, London, said, ?Psoriasis is a chronic condition, which in the most severe cases causes persistent and disabling symptoms. I?ve heard from many young people how psoriasis has negatively affected them by knocking their confidence and making it difficult for them to enjoy even straight-forward things like going to school or spending time out with friends. This NICE recommendation means that young people with this form of psoriasis, where appropriate, will now have access to secukinumab, which can be an effective treatment option and can really help them manage their psoriasis symptoms.?
Once treatment is established, secukinumab is given by subcutaneous injection every four weeks; after training, it can be given by a child?s parent or carer at home. It is a monoclonal antibody that inhibits interleukin-17A (IL-17A), a molecule involved in the psoriasis inflammatory response. Secukinumab is the first IL-17A inhibitor to be recommended by NICE to treat children and young people with this condition.
?This recommendation means we can reimagine psoriasis care by giving children and young people an effective treatment option they can have at home. This will benefit patients and help ease pressure on the NHS as we build back services around the pandemic,??said Chinmay Batt, Managing Director at Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK, Ireland and Nordics.??With further global filings for childhood arthritic conditions, we are closer to our goal of expanding secukinumab to 10 indications over 10 years.?
Secukinumab?is backed by sustained efficacy and safety data?across psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis5-8, with more than 500,000 patients treated worldwide9.?It is approved in more than 90 countries including the UK, in Europe, US, Japan and China.
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Notes to editors
About Cosentyx??(secukinumab)
Secukinumab is indicated in the UK for the treatment of: moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in adults who are candidates for systemic therapy; moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in children and adolescents from the age of six years who are candidates for systemic therapy; active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) (alone or in combination with methotrexate) in adults when response to previous disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy has been inadequate; active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in adults who have responded inadequately to conventional therapy; active non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA) with objective signs of inflammation as indicated by elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evidence in adults who have responded inadequately to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)10.Secukinumab is a biologic that directly inhibits interleukin-17A (IL-17A)10, a cornerstone cytokine involved in the inflammation and development of these conditions6,11,12.
About Novartis Novartis is reimagining medicine to improve and extend people?s lives. As a leading global medicines company, we strive to use innovative science and digital technologies to create treatments in areas of great medical need. In our quest to find new medicines, we consistently rank among the world?s top companies investing in research and development. Novartis products reach more than 800 million people globally and we are finding innovative ways to expand access to our latest treatments. About 109,000 people of nearly 140 nationalities work at Novartis around the world. In the UK, we employ approximately 1,500 people to serve healthcare needs across the whole of the UK, as well as supporting the global operations of Novartis. Since 2014, Novartis has invested over ?200 million in R&D and is a leading sponsor of clinical trials, in the UK. For more information, please visit?www.novartis.co.uk.Novartis UK is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @NovartisUK at?www.twitter.com/novartisuk
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References
1.??????? NICE Health Technology Appraisal. Secukinumab for treating plaque psoriasis in children and young people. Available from:?https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/gid-ta10554/documents/final-scope?[Last accessed: August 2021].
2.??????? NICE Guidance. Final Appraisal Document (FAD). Secukinumab for treating moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in children and young people. September 2021.
3.??????? Menter A, Cordoro KM, Davis DMR, et al. Joint American Academy of Dermatology-National Psoriasis Foundation guidelines of care for the management and treatment of psoriasis in pediatric patients.?J Am Acad Dermatol. 2020;82:161-201.
4.??????? Paller AS, Singh R, Cloutier M, et al. Prevalence of Psoriasis in Children and Adolescents in the United States: A Claims-Based Analysis.?J Drugs Dermatol. 2018;1:187-194.
5.??????? Bissonnette R, Luger T, Tha?i D, et al. Secukinumab demonstrates high sustained efficacy and a favourable safety profile in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis through 5 years of treatment (SCULPTURE Extension Study).?J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2018;32:1507-1514.
6.??????? Mease PJ, Kavanaugh A, Reimold A, et al; FUTURE 1 study group. Secukinumab Provides Sustained Improvements in the Signs and Symptoms of Psoriatic Arthritis: Final 5-year Results from the Phase 3 FUTURE 1 Study.?ACR Open Rheumatol. 2020;2:18-25.
7.??????? Baraliakos X, Braun J, Deodhar A, et al. Long-term efficacy and safety of secukinumab 150 mg in ankylosing spondylitis: 5-year results from the phase III MEASURE 1 extension study.?RMD Open. 2019;5:e001005.
8.??????? Poddubnyy D, Baraliakos X, Blanco R, et al. Secukinumab 150 mg Provides Sustained Improvement in Signs and Symptoms of Nonradiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis: 2-year Results From the PREVENT Study. Data presented at the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology 2021;Poster POS0900.
9.??????? Data on file. COSENTYX Access. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp; June 2021.
10.???? Novartis Europharm Limited. Cosentyx??(secukinumab): Summary of Product Characteristics. Available from:?https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/product-information/cosentyx-epar-product-information_en.pdf?[Last accessed: August 2021].
11.???? Girolomoni G, Mrowietz U, Paul C. Psoriasis: rationale for targeting interleukin-17.?Br J Dermatol. 2012;167:717-24.
12.???? Sieper J, Poddubnyy D, Miossec P. The IL-23-IL-17 pathway as a therapeutic target in axial spondyloarthritis.?Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2019;15:747-757.
