Discussion of new phase 3 data for nemolizumab in prurigo nodularis

Shawn Kwatra, MD, associate professor of dermatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, speaks with the editorial team HCP live broadcast About new findings from the Olympia 2 trial on nemolizumab in patients with prurigo nodosa (PN).

Kwatra detailed some of his team’s findings on drugs to treat patients with PN, noting that the drugs met all primary and key secondary endpoints. This trial showed that nemolizumab monotherapy significantly and rapidly improved pruritus and skin lesions in PN, with clinically meaningful improvements seen as early as 4 weeks.

“So this is a global trial, and it’s a phase 3, multinational double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of nemolizumab,” Kwatra said. “I would say, at this point, it’s is historic because this is the largest Phase 3 clinical trial ever conducted in patients with prurigo nodularis. This is a long-suffering group.”

Kwatra further explored some of his team’s work on Olympia 2.

“So, 56.3% of patients actually achieved the metric of 4-point or greater improvement compared to 20% in the placebo group,” Kwatra explained. “…I would point out that this is an early time point. It’s week 16. So we’ve had almost 60% of patients achieve improvement in itch intensity, and people are reaching 4-point improvement.”

Kwatra added that the natural history of PN is that the itching improves first and then the nodules improve.

“So what’s interesting is that we see that over 16 weeks, the percentage of people achieving a response continues to increase, and the percentage of people achieving the IGA 0-1 mark also increases,” he said. “But what’s special about these data is the speed and how quickly nemolizumab works. It’s about the mechanism of action.”

Kwatra explained that his team will learn more about this drug and how it fits into the treatment paradigm for PN in the coming months.

“Traditionally, this has been a very difficult population to treat because they have so many comorbidities,” he said. “That’s important because there are more targeted agents. So it’s very important data.”

For more information about Kwatra’s team’s findings, watch the full interview video above.

Quotations used here have been edited for clarity.