Relative Efficacy of Immunomodulatory Monotherapies for Psoriasis of the Scalp: A Network Meta-Analysis Study

Recently, the literature has expanded with peer-reviewed studies on immunomodulatory agents' efficacy on scalp psoriasis-which, in turn, widened knowledge gaps regarding these agents' relative effectiveness. We determined the relative efficacy of immunomodulatory monotherapies for scalp psoriasis.

We ran Bayesian network meta-analyses (NMAs) using outcomes related to Psoriasis Scalp Severity Index (PSSI) and scalp-specific Physician's Global Assessment of clear (0) or almost clear (1) (Sc-PGA 0/1).

We estimated the relative efficacy of 22 interventions (including placebo), and analyzed 9 outcomes, namely: proportion of participants who attained Sc-PGA 0/1, proportion of participants who achieved 100% improvement in PSSI (PSSI-100), and proportion of participants who achieved 90% improvement in PSSI (PSSI-90) at 8, 12, and 16 weeks.

We are the first to provide comparative evidence on the efficacy of newly investigated agents such as deucravacitinib, tildrakizumab, roflumilast and icotrokinra. In general, the IL-17 inhibitors (bimekizumab, ixekizumab, secukinumab, brodalumab) and IL-23 inhibitors (icotrokinra, guselkumab, tildrakizumab) were effective depending upon the outcome and time-point being considered. At 16 weeks, for PSSI-100, ixekizumab 150 mg at weeks 0, 2, 4, 8, and 12 ranked highest; at 16 weeks, for Sc-PGA 0/1 bimekizumab 320 mg every 4 weeks ranked highest; at 8 weeks, for PSSI-100 ixekizumab 80 mg every 2 weeks ranked highest; at 8 weeks, for Sc-PGA 0/1 secukinumab 300 mg at weeks 1, 2, 3 and then every 4 weeks ranked highest. Small-molecule therapies (apremilast, deucravacitinib, roflumilast) improved scalp psoriasis modestly. Our work would guide the design of future studies and clinical decision-making.