Transcript
Announcer:
Welcome to DataPulse from American Academy of Dermatology 2026 Annual Meeting on ReachMD. This activity, titled “Early Onset of Response to Zasocitinib, a Highly Selective and Potent TYK2 Inhibitor, Is Correlated With Modulation of TYK2 Signaling and Disease Pathway Biomarkers in Patients With Moderate-to-Severe Plaque Psoriasis” is provided by TotalCME.
Dr. Armstrong:
Hello from the American Academy of Dermatology 2026 annual meeting here in Denver. I'm Dr. April Armstrong, Professor and Chief of Dermatology at UCLA.
Today I'll review results from a study looking at zasocitinib, a highly selective TYK2 inhibitor, and specifically we're going to look at how early onset of response to zasocitinib is correlated with modulation of TYK2 pathway genes and biomarkers. This is a very exciting translational study from the phase 2b trial in moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.
Let's first talk about the study design. This was from phase 2b study. So it was a randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial where patients received different doses of zasocitinib, including the 30 mg or placebo every day for 12 weeks. And during this time, RNA-seq was conducted on skin punch biopsies. Additionally, serum proteomics was performed as well. So these two pieces of information is what we're going to talk about. Specifically, these researchers looked at these biomarker modulations and its association with clinical response.
So what are the exciting findings? First, we found that zasocitinib modulated about 15 key genes as well as serum biomarkers, predominantly in the IL-23 and type 1 interferon pathway. And importantly, this occurred as early as week 4. Also the changes in these key biomarkers were associated with improvements in clinical response from zasocitinib, what the skin looked like as measured by changes in PASI score from baseline at both week 4 and week 12.
What's important about this study is that it not only measured the clinical appearance of the skin from the psoriasis improvement from the clinical perspective, but very importantly what's happening underneath the skin; not only genes from the skin tissues from the skin biopsy, but also importantly, serum biomarkers. And those changes occurred as early as week 4, really speaking to the ability of zasocitinib to modulate these pathways early on.
And from the 2026 American Academy of Dermatology meeting, I'm Dr. April Armstrong, and thank you for listening.
Announcer:
Thank you for listening to this DataPulse from American Academy of Dermatology 2026 Annual Meeting on ReachMD. This activity is provided by TotalCME. Thank you for listening.
