New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery launched a pilot study to measure the effect of secukinumab on ankylosing spondylitis patients' bones.
Here are four things to know.
1. Rheumatologist Susan Goodman, MD, leads the two-year study of secukinumab's effects adult AS patients' bone health and metabolism. The study is now enrolling patients.
2. The FDA approved the monoclonal antibody secukinumab in 2015 for adult patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, and expanded its approval to adult with AS and psoriatic arthritis in 2016.
3. The drug is designed to target the immune protein interleukin-17A. Anti-IL17 antibodies may protect against bone loss by suppressing osteoclast function and promoting osteoblast activity.
4. Patients with AS develop abnormal bone spurs called syndesmophytes, which can fuse vertebrae together and lead to stiffness, pain and loss of motion in the spine.
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