Relative efficacy of immunomodulatory monotherapies for psoriasis of the scalp: A network meta-analysis study

Recently, the literature has expanded with peer-reviewed studies on immunomodulatory agents' efficacy on scalp psoriasis—which, in turn, widened knowledge gaps regarding these agents' relative effectiveness. We determined the relative efficacy of immunomodulatory monotherapies for scalp psoriasis. We ran Bayesian network meta-analyses (NMAs) using outcomes related to Psoriasis Scalp Severity Index (PSSI) and scalp-specific Physician's Global Assessment of clear (0) or almost clear (1) (Sc-PGA 0/1). We estimated the relative efficacy of 22 interventions (including placebo), and analyzed 9 outcomes, namely: proportion of participants who attained Sc-PGA 0/1, proportion of participants who achieved 100% improvement in PSSI (PSSI-100), and proportion of participants who achieved 90% improvement in PSSI (PSSI-90) at 8, 12, and 16 weeks. We are the first to provide comparative evidence on the efficacy of newly investigated agents such as deucravacitinib, tildrakizumab, roflumilast and icotrokinra. In general, the IL-17 inhibitors (bimekizumab, ixekizumab, secukinumab, brodalumab) and IL-23 inhibitors (icotrokinra, guselkumab, tildrakizumab) were effective depending upon the outcome and time-point being considered. At 16 weeks, for PSSI-100, ixekizumab 150 mg at weeks 0, 2, 4, 8, and 12 ranked highest; at 16 weeks, for Sc-PGA 0/1 bimekizumab 320 mg every 4 weeks ranked highest; at 8 weeks, for PSSI-100 ixekizumab 80 mg every 2 weeks ranked highest; at 8 weeks, for Sc-PGA 0/1 secukinumab 300 mg at weeks 1, 2, 3 and then every 4 weeks ranked highest. Small-molecule therapies (apremilast, deucravacitinib, roflumilast) improved scalp psoriasis modestly. Our work would guide the design of future studies and clinical decision-making.