Targeting the IL-36 pathway
In a comment, Todd Schlesinger, MD, Clinical Research Center of the Carolinas, Charleston, S.C., who moderated the session, said: “It’s very exciting to be able to have a subcutaneous version of the medication.”
“I think the IL-36 is a great pathway,” he said, referring to the signaling pathway within the immune system that is central to the pathogenesis of GPP and several other autoinflammatory diseases.
However, Dr. Schlesinger said that he would have liked to have seen data on how many patients ended up treated with intravenous spesolimab.
He added that he would like future studies of subcutaneous spesolimab to examine the effect in different populations that vary by parameters such as weight, race, and disease severity. “Just seeing how somebody who’s flaring five times a year and you give them this medication and they’re now flaring once a year – that’s interesting data that we might like to know in the future.”
Other than for preventing GPP flares, spesolimab is being studied for treating other IL-36–mediated skin diseases, such as palmoplantar pustulosis.
The study was funded by Boehringer Ingelheim; both Dr. Strober and Dr. Schlesinger do research and consulting for BI, and receive funding from multiple other pharmaceutical companies.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.