Clinical experience with the etanercept biosimilar SB4 in psoriatic patients

Background After the expiry of the patent of reference etanercept, several biosimilars have been developed, including SB4. Objective To study safety and efficacy of SB4 in psoriatic patients previously treated with etanercept and in the etanercept naive ones. Method Patients affected by moderate to severe psoriasis and/or psoriatic arthritis attending the Psoriasis Center of Florence University, treated with SB4 were enrolled in the study. Patients were divided in two cohorts. Cohort 1 included 32 patients who were switched from previous etanercept, cohort 2 included 12 patients who were naive to etanercept. Results Evaluation of the efficacy of SB4 in cohort 1 patients revealed rates of clinical remission (defined as both PASI and/or DAS28 increase < 10%) of 92% and 64% for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis respectively. In cohort 2 at week 24 PASI 75 was observed in 75% of patients. Conclusion In our experience switching from originator to SB4 in psoriatic patients seems not to influence efficacy, especially cutaneous manifestations, over a median observational period of 24 weeks.