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Bimekizumab treatment has demonstrated significant improvements in clinical outcomes in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis; however, studies so far have focused on predominantly White patient populations from North America and Europe, with one smaller study in a Japanese population. Here, clinical responses, safety, and tolerability of bimekizumab treatment in Korean patients are reported. Korean patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis were randomized to bimekizumab 320 mg every 4 weeks (Q4W) or placebo Q4W to week 16. Co‐primary efficacy end points were achievement of ≥90% improvement from baseline in the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI 90) and Investigator's Global Assessment score of 0/1 (clear/almost clear) at week 16. Secondary efficacy end points included achievement of PASI 75 at week 4 and Dermatology Life Quality Index 0/1 at week 16. Safety outcomes were also assessed. Statistical analysis of the co‐primary efficacy end points was performed using a type I error rate, at a two‐sided α level of 0.05. Overall, 47 Korean patients were randomized to treatment (bimekizumab: 32, placebo: 15). At week 16, bimekizumab‐treated patients had significantly higher clinical responses versus placebo‐treated patients (PASI 90: 81.3% vs. 0%; IGA 0/1: 87.5% vs. 0%, p < 0.001 for both). Bimekizumab showed a rapid onset of clinical response, with 75.0% of patients achieving PASI 75 by week 4 (0% in placebo patients [nominal p < 0.001]). A higher proportion of bimekizumab‐treated patients achieved DLQI 0/1 at week 16 (46.9% vs. 6.7% in placebo patients, nominal p = 0.007), indicating greater improvements in health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) following bimekizumab treatment. Bimekizumab was well‐tolerated in Korean patients, with no new safety signals identified. Treatment with bimekizumab led to rapid improvements in clinical responses and HRQoL versus placebo in Korean patients, consistent with responses in global populations. These findings suggest that bimekizumab is an effective and well‐tolerated treatment option in Korean patients with psoriasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nail psoriasis is a chronic condition characterized by nail dystrophy affecting the nail matrix and bed. The severity of nail psoriasis is commonly assessed using the Nail Psoriasis Severity Index (NAPSI), which evaluates the characteristics and extent of nail involvement. Although the NAPSI is numeric, reproducible, and simple, the assessment process is time‐consuming and often challenging to use in real‐world clinical settings. To overcome the time‐consuming nature of NAPSI assessment, we aimed to develop a deep learning algorithm that can rapidly and reliably evaluate NAPSI, thereby providing numerous clinical and research advantages. We developed a dataset consisting of 7054 single fingernail images cropped from images of the dorsum of the hands of 634 patients with psoriasis. We annotated the eight features of the NAPSI in a single nail using bounding boxes and trained the YOLOv7‐based deep learning algorithm using this annotation. The performance of the deep learning algorithm (DLA) was evaluated by comparing the NAPSI estimated using the DLA with the ground truth of the test dataset. The NAPSI evaluated using the DLA differed by 2 points from the ground truth in 98.6% of the images. The accuracy and mean absolute error of the model were 67.6% and 0.449, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.876, indicating good agreement. Our results showed that the DLA can rapidly and accurately evaluate the NAPSI. The rapid and accurate NAPSI assessment by the DLA is not only applicable in clinical settings, but also provides research advantages by enabling rapid NAPSI evaluations of previously collected nail images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with psoriasis frequently have comorbidities, which are linked to higher mortality rates. An in‐depth investigation of comorbidities and their effects on health can help improve the management of patients with psoriasis. We conducted a comprehensive and unbiased investigation of comorbidities in patients with psoriasis and explored the pattern of association between comorbidities. A nationwide population‐based study included 384 914 patients with psoriasis and 384 914 matched controls between 2011 and 2021. We used automated mass screening of all diagnostic codes to identify psoriasis‐associated comorbidities and applied association rule analysis to explore the patterns of comorbidity associations in patients with psoriasis. Patients with psoriasis had an increased risk of autoimmunity‐related diseases such as inflammatory arthritis, Crohn's disease, type 1 diabetes, and acute myocardial infarction. The comorbidities of patients with psoriasis with a history of cardiovascular events demonstrated strong interrelationships with other cardiovascular risk factors including type 2 diabetes mellitus, essential hypertension, and dyslipidemia. We also found comorbidities, such as malignant skin tumors and kidney and liver diseases, which could have adverse effects of anti‐psoriasis therapy. In contrast, patients with psoriasis showed a decreased association with upper respiratory tract infection. Our results imply that comorbidities in patients with psoriasis are associated with the systemic inflammation of psoriasis and the detrimental effects of its treatment. Furthermore, we found patterns of associations between the cardiovascular risk factors and psoriasis. Mass screening and association analyses using large‐scale databases can be used to investigate impartially the comorbidities of psoriasis and other diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with psoriasis were randomized to guselkumab, placebo or adalimumab in the VOYAGE 1 and VOYAGE 2 studies. In this post hoc analysis, difficult‐to‐treat psoriasis regions in the Asian subpopulation for both the guselkumab and adalimumab groups were compared with placebo at week 16 and the active treatment groups were compared at week 24. Endpoints included patients achieving scores of 0 or 1 (clear or near clear) or 0 (clear) on the scalp‐specific Investigator's Global Assessment (ss‐IGA), Physician's Global Assessment of the hands and/or feet (hf‐PGA), and fingernail PGA (f‐PGA), and percentage improvement in target Nail Psoriasis Severity Index (NAPSI) score through week 24. Efficacy was also assessed by prior biologic experience at baseline. A total of 199 eligible Asian patients were included. The proportion of patients achieving "clear" or "near clear" with guselkumab was superior to adalimumab at week 24 for scalp psoriasis ss‐IGA (Asian patients, 72 [85.7%] vs 35 [67.3%], P = 0.004), hands and/or feet psoriasis hf‐PGA (29 [82.9%] vs 16 [61.5%], P = 0.054), and similar for fingernail psoriasis f‐PGA (28 [63.6%] vs 17 [54.8%], P = 0.412). Guselkumab mean improvements in NAPSI were comparable to adalimumab (39.9% vs 35.9%, P = 0.618). Overall, the complete clearance response of scalp, and hands and/or feet at week 24 occurred in a greater proportion of patients in the guselkumab group, irrespective of baseline biologic status (treatment‐naïve or treatment‐experienced). Guselkumab was superior to adalimumab for the treatment of scalp, and hands and/or feet psoriasis, and proportionally higher for fingernail psoriasis. Findings were comparable to the global study population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]