Dec 18 (Reuters) – Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical said on Thursday its experimental pill for a type of skin disease, developed using artificial intelligence, succeeded in two late-stage studies.
More than half the plaque psoriasis patients across the studies showed clear or almost clear skin after 16 weeks of treatment with the once-daily drug, zasocitinib, the company said.
Takeda plans to file marketing applications with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory authorities in 2026.
If approved, zasocitinib would join a crowded plaque psoriasis market featuring well-established oral rivals like Bristol Myers’ Sotyktu and Amgen’s Otezla, plus injectables including Johnson & Johnson’s Tremfya, AbbVie’s Skyrizi, and Novartis’ Cosentyx.
Takeda’s pill offers a convenient daily pill alternative alongside Sotyktu and Otezla in a market dominated by injectable drugs for treating plaque psoriasis, in which red, scaly patches occur on the skin due to an overactive immune system.
The company is banking on the blockbuster potential of zasocitinib to help fill a revenue gap it faces after its inflammatory bowel disease drug Entyvio loses key patents at the end of the decade.
Takeda in January had said it expects zasocitinib, if approved, to generate peak annual sales in the range of $3 billion to $6 billion.
The drugmaker acquired zasocitinib from drug developer Nimbus Therapeutics in 2022 in a deal worth up to $6 billion. Nimbus had identified the compound with the help of AI, a trend picking up pace in the pharmaceutical industry as companies seek to accelerate development of medicines.
The drug was generally well tolerated and outperformed placebo and Amgen’s Otezla, with treatment responses strengthening through week 24.
(Reporting by Padmanabhan Ananthan in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
