INTRODUCTION
Psoriasis is a common multisystem chronic inflammatory disease that affects approximately 3.2% of the population. The most prominent manifestation of psoriasis is skin involvement with erythematous plaques, but often systemic inflammation also occurs, and treatment optimization with systemic non-biologic therapies has been proposed to reduce disease severity.1,2 Several studies have recently evaluated the efficacy and safety of Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors, and, more recently, selective tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitors. Deucravacitinib is an oral, selective, allosteric TYK2 inhibitor that blocks signal transduction of interleukin (IL) 23, IL-12, and type I interferons. It has been approved for psoriasis and is a promising treatment for moderate-to-severe disease.3,4
The recently published POETYK-PSO1 and POETYK-PSO2 trials investigated deucravacitinib treatment in adults with moderate-to-severe psoriasis, and have increased the weight of evidence in this area.5,6 The drug demonstrated superiority versus placebo and apremilast, was well tolerated, and achieved higher rates of improvement in disease severity and quality-of-life outcomes.5,6 Furthermore, deucravacitinib was also investigated for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in 2 recent phase 2 trials, which have shown promising results.7,8 To this date, there is no study assessing deucravacitinib treatment efficacy and safety in psoriasis across all available data by meta-analysis. Hence, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials to evaluate the disease severity reduction, quality of life improvement, and adverse event profile of deucravacitinib compared with placebo, in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis
The recently published POETYK-PSO1 and POETYK-PSO2 trials investigated deucravacitinib treatment in adults with moderate-to-severe psoriasis, and have increased the weight of evidence in this area.5,6 The drug demonstrated superiority versus placebo and apremilast, was well tolerated, and achieved higher rates of improvement in disease severity and quality-of-life outcomes.5,6 Furthermore, deucravacitinib was also investigated for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in 2 recent phase 2 trials, which have shown promising results.7,8 To this date, there is no study assessing deucravacitinib treatment efficacy and safety in psoriasis across all available data by meta-analysis. Hence, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials to evaluate the disease severity reduction, quality of life improvement, and adverse event profile of deucravacitinib compared with placebo, in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Eligibility Criteria
Only studies that matched all the following eligibility criteria were included in this meta-analysis: (1) randomized controlled trials (RCTs); (2) deucravacitinib at dosages of 6 mg/day or higher compared to placebo; and (3) enrolling patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis. We excluded studies that (1) did not have a control group; (2) enrolled patients without psoriasis; or (3) had overlapping patient populations.
Only studies that matched all the following eligibility criteria were included in this meta-analysis: (1) randomized controlled trials (RCTs); (2) deucravacitinib at dosages of 6 mg/day or higher compared to placebo; and (3) enrolling patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis. We excluded studies that (1) did not have a control group; (2) enrolled patients without psoriasis; or (3) had overlapping patient populations.
