UCB’s top-selling drug Bimzelx (bimekizumab) has bested AbbVie’s blockbuster immunology drug, Skyrizi (risankizumab), during a head-to-head study in psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
In the Phase III, Skyrizi-controlled study (NCT06624228), Bimzelx demonstrated superiority over Skyrizi in reducing PsA joint disease activity at the 16-week mark – meeting the trial’s primary endpoint. This was determined by the significant increase in patients meeting the American College of Rheumatology response criteria 50 (ACR50) endpoint across the Bimzelx treatment arm over the Skyrizi group.
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This study included both patients who had not yet received a biologic to treat PsA, as well as those who had an insufficient response to a single tumour necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor.
UCB is yet to announce data on secondary endpoints, which include measures of skin clearance and wider disease activity.
Bimzelx was generally well tolerated in this study, with no new safety signals associated with the drug. UCB expects to release full results from the BE BOLD study in the first half of 2026.
Bimzelx looks to challenge psoriasis market leaders
According to Emmanuel Caeymaex, UCB’s executive VP and head of patient evidence, this result provides the “first head-to-head evidence of superiority versus an IL-23 inhibitor” in PsA.
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By GlobalDataCurrently, the standard of care (SoC) for PsA patients with moderate-to-severe disease revolves around the use of IL-23 inhibitors such as Skyrizi or Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) Tremfya (guselkumab), as well as IL-17 blockers like Bimzelx or Eli Lilly’s Taltz (ixekizumab) and anti-TNF drugs like Humira (adalimumab).
Caeymaex notes that Bimzelx could improve the SoC bar for patients with psoriatic disease, as research has now proven Bimzelx superior to Skyrizi in improving joint-based disease activity in PsA.
However, Jefferies analysts are sceptical about whether this outcome will have any strong commercial implications. This is because a dermatology expert previously told the company that Bimzelx is “already preferentially used in patients with concomitant PsA,” meaning it’s unlikely that there will be a notable increase in uptake across this patient population.
Currently, Bimzelx is UCB’s best-selling asset, having gained approval across a broad range of immunological conditions like axial spondyloarthritis and hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). In 2025, the drug pulled in €2.2bn ($2.5bn) in sales for UCB. GlobalData, the parent company of Clinical Trials Arena, forecasts that the drug will make $7.45bn across all its approved indications in 2031.
Meanwhile, PsA market competitors AbbVie and J&J made $17.6bn and $5.1bn from Skyrizi and Tremfya, with GlobalData predicting the therapies will bring in $26.1bn and $10.39bn, respectively, in 2031.
According to a report from GlobalData, the PsA market will grow from $9.5bn to $13.5bn between 2023 and 2033.
