OBJECTIVES : Secukinumab, an anti-interleukin-17A monoclonal antibody, is approved for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis (PsA). However, most evidence regarding secukinumab is derived from Caucasian populations, and its effectiveness in Asian populations remains unclear.

METHODS : We conducted this retrospective cohort study by analyzing the electronic medical records database from four branches of Chang Gung Memorial Hospitals covering 0.7 million patients (8% of the population of northern Taiwan). We included adult patients with a diagnosis of PsA newly initiating secukinumab over 24 weeks during 2016-2018. We evaluated the treatment effectiveness by the mean of tender joint counts (TJC, 0-78 joints), swollen joint counts (SJC, 0-76 joints), patient’s global assessment (PTA, 0-5 scores), physician’s global assessment (PHA, 0-5 scores), C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) before and after secukinumab therapy.

RESULTS : We identified a total of 16 patients with a mean age of 47.3±12 years old, of whom 62.5% were female. Before treatment, patients’ mean TJC, SJC, PTA, PHA, CRP and ESR were 17.6±9.5, 11.4±6.3, 3.8±1.0, 3.8±1.0, 9.0±11.6 mg/L, and 26.1±22.5 mm/hr, respectively. After the 24-week treatment, patients’ mean TJC, SJC, PTA, PHA, CRP and ESR were 9.1±12.8, 5.9±6.5, 2.3±1.0, 2.3±1.0, 4.8±5.7 mg/L and 19.9±17.3 mm/hr, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS : Secukinumab exhibited clinical effectiveness for the treatment of PsA in clinical practice in Taiwan. More studies in Asian populations with larger sample size and longer follow-up periods are suggested to confirm our findings.