World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

IXEKIZUMAB: A MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY WELL WORTH FOR PSORIASIS

Dick B. S. Brashier*, Prashant Mishra and Htet Wai Moe

ABSTRACT

Psoriasis is a very long lasting disease affecting millions of people worldwide. In the patients affected by psoriasis, the skin cells multiply faster than normal and raised and red plaques appeared over the skin. Psoriasis also has association with psoriatic arthritis, increased risk of depression, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It is an autoimmune disease and complete cure cannot be achieved when all the current treatment options can relieve the symptoms only for a short time. After a very long searching of more sustainably effective drugs for psoriasis, the FDA recently approved the new drug ixekizumab. Ixekizumab is a humanized IgG4 variant IL- 17A neutralizing monoclonal antibody. It has high affinity for human IL- 17A and effectively inhibits the binding of IL- 17A to IL- 17A receptor. As the pathogenesis of autoimmune psoriasis is contributed by IL-17A producing pathogenic T-cells, ixekizumab can completely or almost completely clear the disease in moderate to severe psoriasis. The major drawback is that ixekizumab is an immunosuppressive agent causing increased risk of infection. Ixekizumab brings the hope to psoriatic patients but further immense research needs to be performed in the treatment of psoriasis.

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