Analyzing Pain and Fatigue Outcomes

EP: 1.Background on PROs in Psoriatic Arthritis

EP: 2.Common Symptoms and Treatments in Psoriatic Arthritis

EP: 3.Treatment Selection for Psoriatic Arthritis

EP: 4.Key Differences in Inclusion Criteria Between BE OPTIMAL and BE COMPLETE

EP: 5.Baseline Characteristics and Alignment to Clinical Practice

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EP: 6.Analyzing Pain and Fatigue Outcomes

Pain assessment in the clinical trials revealed baseline scores around 60 out of 100, representing highly impactful daily pain that patients experience continuously. This level of pain significantly affects patients’ ability to function and maintain normal activities, making pain reduction a critical treatment goal. By week 16, bimekizumab-treated patients demonstrated highly significant pain improvement compared with placebo, with placebo patients achieving similar benefits after switching to active treatment. The analysis included meaningful pain reduction thresholds where 30% improvement represents palpable benefit, 50% constitutes major improvement that patients readily notice, and 70% provides exceptional symptom control.

The targeted biologic approach offers significant advantages by providing meaningful pain relief without requiring additional analgesic medications, thereby avoiding the downstream consequences associated with chronic pain medication use. This represents a substantial benefit for patients with chronic inflammatory conditions who might otherwise require pain medications that can lead to dependency or other complications. The ability to substantially reduce pain through anti-inflammatory mechanisms addresses the root cause rather than merely masking symptoms.

Fatigue consistently emerges as the second most important symptom in patient focus groups, following pain, yet often remains under-recognized in clinical practice. Patients frequently express surprise when discovering that others with psoriatic arthritis experience similar fatigue patterns, as clinicians may not routinely inquire about this symptom. The FDA has recognized fatigue’s importance by incorporating measures like the FACIT-Fatigue score into clinical trials. Bimekizumab demonstrated significant fatigue improvement compared with placebo during the controlled period, with over half of patients achieving minimal clinically important difference thresholds at various timepoints, highlighting the comprehensive symptom relief achieved through effective inflammatory control.