New oral psoriasis mechanism from Protagonist-J&J yields competitive Phase III data

ARTICLE | Product Development

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By Lauren Martz, Executive Director of Biopharma Intelligence, and Paul Bonanos, Director of Biopharma Intelligence

November 19, 2024 11:00 PM UTC

Icotrokinra from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and Protagonist Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) is the first oral psoriasis therapy since Sotyktu deucravactinib to succeed in Phase III. Although it’s not clear how differentiated on efficacy the IL-23R peptide antagonist will be from other oral therapies in development, the profile does appear favorable against Sotyktu.

The partners reported that icotrokinra, formerly JNJ77242113, met the primary endpoint in a pair of Phase III plaque psoriasis studies. In the 684-patient ICONIC-Lead trial, the placebo-adjusted percentage of patients who achieved an IGA3 score of 0/1 was 56.4, while the placebo-adjusted PASI 90 score was 45.2%. Results have yet to be reported from the secondary endpoints of PASI 75 and PASI 100…