Loading ...

TOPLINE:

Bimekizumab treatment showed sustained improvements in pain, fatigue, physical function, and disease impact over 2 years in patients with psoriatic arthritis who were naive to biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) or had an inadequate response or intolerance to TNF inhibitors (TNFi-IR). Resolution of swollen joints was associated with the greatest reduction in patient-reported pain.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers analyzed data from two phase 3 trials — BE OPTIMAL and BE COMPLETE — and a shared long-term open-label extension, BE VITAL, to evaluate the 2-year effect of bimekizumab on patient-reported outcomes and the association between these outcomes and inflammation control in psoriatic arthritis.
• Among 712 patients who were naive to bDMARDs in BE OPTIMAL and 400 patients with TNFi-IR in BE COMPLETE, 598 and 322, respectively, completed 2 years of bimekizumab treatment in the open-label extension.
• In both trials, participants were randomly assigned to receive subcutaneous bimekizumab 160 mg every 4 weeks or placebo, with those receiving placebo switching to bimekizumab at week 16. Patients who completed week 52 of BE OPTIMAL or week 16 of BE COMPLETE could enter the open-label extension study.
• Patient-reported outcomes included pain, fatigue, physical function, and overall disease impact. Joint inflammation was objectively assessed using the swollen joint count (SJC).
• Associations between SJC and patient-reported outcomes were analyzed across 2 years of bimekizumab treatment.

TAKEAWAY:

• At 2 years, 51.5% of patients naive to bDMARDs and 56.2% of patients with TNFi-IR who were initially randomly assigned to bimekizumab at baseline achieved at least a 50% reduction in pain (measured using the visual analog scale); similar results were observed in patients initially assigned to receive placebo who switched to bimekizumab at week 16.
• Improvements in fatigue (defined as an increase of ≥ 4 points on the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue scale) were maintained at year 2 in 50.0% of patients naive to bDMARDs and 52.4% of patients with TNFi-IR initially randomly assigned to bimekizumab; similar improvements in physical function (Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index decrease ≥ 0.35) were also noted in patients initially randomly assigned to bimekizumab.
• At year 2, approximately half of the bimekizumab-treated patients reported no or low disease impact (Psoriatic Arthritis Impact of Disease-12 [PsAID-12] total score ≤ 1.95), and 88.0%-92.0% achieved a patient-acceptable symptom state (PsAID-12 total score ≤ 4). The absolute mean change from baseline in the PsAID-12 total score at year 2 was -2.2 in patients naive to bDMARDs and -2.5 in patients with TNFi-IR initially randomly assigned to bimekizumab.
• The greatest reduction in pain was observed in patients achieving complete resolution of swollen joints (SJC = 0); 83.1% (152 of 183) of patients naive to bDMARDs who achieved ≥ 70% pain reduction had an SJC of 0. Reductions in SJC also correlated with improvements in patient-reported outcomes and overall disease impact.

IN PRACTICE:

“Clinically meaningful improvements in patient-reported symptoms and reduced disease impact with bimekizumab treatment were sustained up to 2 years, with findings consistent between bDMARD-naive and TNFi-IR patients with PsA [psoriatic arthritis],” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Laure Gossec, MD, PhD, Sorbonne Université, INSERM, Paris, France. It was published online on May 18, 2026, in ACR Open Rheumatology.

LIMITATIONS: 

The study reported data from clinical trial populations, which may limit generalizability to patients typically seen in clinical practice. Several efficacy outcomes, including patient-reported endpoints, were not always collected at the same timepoints in the two trials. Additionally, the reference-arm patients switched from adalimumab to bimekizumab at week 52 and had not received bimekizumab for the full 2 years.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was supported by UCB. Four authors declared being employees of UCB. Some authors reported receiving grants or contracts, consulting fees, payment or honoraria, and support for attending meetings or travel; participating on data safety monitoring or advisory boards; or having other ties with various pharmaceutical companies.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.