Oruka’s experimental psoriasis drug achieves near-complete skin clearance in Phase 2 trial

Oruka Therapeutics reported that its experimental IL-23 inhibitor ORKA-001 cleared the skin of 40 of 63 patients (about 63%) in a Phase 2 study, achieving a PASI 100 response at 16 weeks. A further 83% of participants reached PASI 90, indicating clear or almost clear skin.

The clearance rates were higher than those observed for AbbVie’s Skyrizi in comparable studies and similar to UCB’s Bimzelx, although ORKA-001 has not yet been tested head-to-head against these products.

Oruka also highlighted early data suggesting the drug could be administered once yearly, which would differentiate it from current injectable therapies that require more frequent dosing. The news lifted Oruka’s share price by roughly 20%.