At week 16 in the BE RADIANT trial, 230 patients (61.7%) on Bimekizumab reached complete skin clearance (PASI 100) whereas only 181 (48.9%) on Secukinumab achieved the same result.

At week 16 in the BE SURE trial, 275 or 86.2% of the patients on Bimekizumab achieved a PASI 90, one of the primary endpoints of the study where only 75 of the patients on Adalimumab-(47.2%) had the same result.

After approximately a year, there was no difference in outcomes for patients receiving Bimekizumab every 4 weeks, or every 8 weeks.

Side effects were rare, though oral candidiasis- usually an easily treatable mouth infection - occurred in some patients.

Professor Richard Warren from The University of Manchester is also a Consultant Dermatologist at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust.

He has been leading some parts of the Bimekizumab development programme over the last 5 years as well as working with others on the design of the phase 3 programmes.

He said: “These trials show that Bimekizumab offers much hope to patients with moderate to severe psoriasis.

“The higher rates of skin clearance under Bimekizumab compared with Secukinumab and Adalimumab were very impressive.

“This drug sets a new bar for psoriasis treatment and we are hopeful that trials in treating other diseases triggered by over active Interleukin 17A and Interleukin 17F will also lead to improvements in patient care .”

The papers Bimekizumab versus Adalimumab in Plaque Psoriasis and Bimekizumab versus Secukinumab in Plaque Psoriasis are published in New England Journal of Medicine.