Paga (Bms): “Deucravacitinib more possibilities for patients with psoriasis”

“There is no cure for psoriasis because it is a chronic disease, so we are talking about patients who have a very long history of the disease. However, the green light from the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) to reimburse a new oral therapy (deucravacitinib) for moderate or severe psoriasis is a very important result. This therapy allows us to treat and try to manage the symptoms for as long as possible and have new opportunities when previous therapies fail to maintain the response”. This is what Cosimo Paga, Executive Country Medical Director, Bristol Myers Squibb, told Adnkronos Salute, at the presentation of the new therapy – today in Rome – in a press conference promoted by Bristol Myers Squibb.

Paga then recalled the commitment of BMS, “which was born for psoriasis about 10 years ago with deucravacitinib, which we studied in great detail and of which today we are pleased to be able to announce the reimbursement for the treatment of adult patients affected by moderate and severe psoriasis and who are candidates for systemic therapy. In the field of immunology, and I say this with pride, as BMS we have been pioneers in this field and have studied the immune system very thoroughly, so much so that we have managed to develop molecules both for the treatment of autoimmune diseases for which it is important to modulate and try to reduce the immune response, and in the treatment of oncological and hematological diseases where it is important to stimulate the activity of the immune system”.

Compared to other therapies for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis, “deucravacitinib acts on a protein that none of the other therapies, despite the numerous ones available to patients, acted on,” Paga emphasizes. “And we are talking in particular about the Tyk2 protein, which plays an important role in regulating the immune system. The data confirm the fact that it is a very active molecule, so much so that we already have 4-year data that demonstrate both the duration of the important response and the safety profile that has shown it to be a very well tolerated molecule.”