The British Association of Dermatologists Biologics and Immunomodulator Register (BADBIR) is prospectively recording real world outcomes for patients receiving the anti-IL-17a monoclonal antibody, ixekizumab (Taltz). The objective of this analysis is to describe the characteristics of patients initiating treatment with ixekizumab in the UK and the Republic of Ireland in the early post-launch period.  The study design is a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from patients recruited to the BADBIR ixekizumab cohort between November 2017 and September 2018. Of 143 patients available for analysis, 48% were female, mean age at ixekizumab initiation was 48 years (sd 12, range 19-80) and mean duration of psoriasis at initiation was 27 years (sd 13).  Of those with an outcome recorded in the 90 days prior to ixekizumab initiation, mean PASI score was 13 (sd 8) and mean DLQI was 16 (sd 9). Thirty-two percent had also been diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and 88% had been previously treated with a biologic.  The most common co-morbidities were depression, hypertension and diabetes and the mean number of co-morbidities per patient was 3.5.
Ixekizumab was co-prescribed with a conventional therapy in 31% of patients and methotrexate was the most commonly co-prescribed conventional treatment.  
Previous publications from the BADBIR group have shown that real world populations receiving biologic drugs may differ from those recruited to clinical trials and may have different response rates and side effect profiles.  It is therefore important to monitor patient characteristics, side effect profiles and disease response over time to fully understand the impact of ixekizumab in the real world clinical environment.

Ixekizumab for psoriasis: characteristics of patients recruited to the British Association of Dermatologists Biologics and Immunomodulator Register in the first year post launch