April 27 (Reuters) - Oruka Therapeutics said on Monday that interim results showed its experimental drug helped clear psoriasis within 16 weeks, ⁠meeting the main goal of a mid-stage study and sending its shares up 27.1% in early trading.

The company was testing its monoclonal ⁠antibody ORKA-001 in patients with psoriasis, a chronic skin disease that causes itchy, scaly rashes, most commonly on the ⁠knees, elbows and scalp.

Oruka said the ‌therapy led to complete skin clearance in 40 of 63 patients, or 63.5% patients, by week 16.

The data represents a best-in-class profile, demonstrating numerical superiority to AbbVie's Skyrizi benchmark and comparable to UCB's Bimzelx, which is often chosen for its rapid treatment response, said Barclays analysts.

ORKA-001 is designed to inhibit IL-23p19, ‌an immune protein involved in psoriasis-related inflammation. The treatment is administered as an under-the-skin ​injection, designed ‌to stay in the body longer, allowing dosing ‌as infrequently as once or twice a year.

The results continue to support the potential for annual dosing, Oruka said.

"We think that ⁠most patients would prefer a once to twice per ‌year biologic regimen with very ⁠high efficacy over a frequently administered ​oral," said CEO Lawrence Klein on a call ‌with analysts.

Currently approved treatments for this condition are typically given every 8 to 12 weeks.

Compared with other studies, Oruka said its drug showed higher rates of complete skin clearance than treatments targeting the ​same protein.

An earlier study showed ORKA-001 remained in the bloodstream longer ‌and ‌reached higher blood levels than Skyrizi at the same dose.

"If replicated in later-stage trials, ORKA-001 would be ‌the best-in-indication biologic in ​psoriasis and exceed $10 billion of sales," said TD Cowen analyst Tyler Van Buren.

If approved, ORKA-001 will enter a crowded psoriasis market, which the company estimates is currently worth over $30 billion, and ⁠compete with Bristol Myers Squibb's Sotyktu, Johnson & Johnson's Tremfya and oral pill Icotyde.

Oruka ‌plans to share additional data on ORKA-001 later this year.

(Reporting by Sneha S K in ​Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Diti Pujara)