J&J's guselkumab shows superiority to placebo and Humira in Phase IIb trial

US pharma giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) says that its guselkumab showed improvements in primary and secondary endpoints versus placebo and against AbbVie’s (NYSE: ABBV) Humira (adalimumab) in plaque psoriasis at Phase IIb.

In the X-PLORE study which lasted 52 weeks, 293 patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis were given one of five doses of guselkumab, Humira or placebo. After 16 weeks patients in the placebo group were given therapy with guselkumab once every eight weeks.

The primary endpoint of X-PLORE was the proportion of patients at week 16 who received a Physician’s Global Assessment (PGA) score of 0, indicating cleared psoriasis, or 1, minimal psoriasis.