A 52-week phase 3 clinical trial of Skyrizi, or risankizumab — a drug initially approved to treat Crohn's disease, psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis — was shown to also achieve clinical remission in 40 percent of patients with ulcerative colitis, AbbVie announced June 15.
The drugmaker reported that 51 percent of patients who were given 180 mg of the drug and 48 percent who received 360 mg for treatment during the 52-week trial also saw endoscopic improvements.
In addition, no new safety risks were discovered during the phase 3 trial, Abbive stated in a news release.
"These positive results suggest that risankizumab is a promising therapy to help ulcerative colitis patients with challenging symptoms that disrupt their daily lives," Stefan Schreiber, MD, one of the physicians involved in the study and director of department of internal medicine at University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein in Germany said in a statement. "Risankizumab's achievement of a broad range of difficult-to-reach endpoints encompassing endoscopic-histologic outcomes and many others represents important progress toward addressing the need for additional treatment options for patients with ulcerative colitis."
AbbVie noted full findings from the phase 3 trial will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal as the drugmaker continues to work toward FDA approval of the drug for ulcerative colitis treatment.