Lil­ly's Taltz wins third ap­proval, this time in pa­tients with ac­tive anky­los­ing spondyli­tis

Lil­ly’s mon­o­clon­al an­ti­body, Taltz, which is al­ready ap­proved for pso­ri­at­ic arthri­tis and plaque pso­ri­a­sis has won its third ap­proval. The FDA has cleared its use in ac­tive anky­los­ing spondyli­tis (AS), a chron­ic in­flam­ma­to­ry rheumat­ic dis­or­der that af­fects the pelvic joints and spine, and can be char­ac­ter­ized by in­flam­ma­to­ry back pain, stiff­ness and im­paired func­tion and mo­bil­i­ty.

Taltz — akin to No­var­tis’ $NVS block­buster Cosen­tyx — in­hibits IL-17A, a cy­tokine in­volved in in­flam­ma­to­ry and im­mune re­spons­es. The drug, which will now al­so ad­dress the rough­ly 1.6 mil­lion Amer­i­cans with AS, gen­er­at­ed about $354 mil­lion in the sec­ond quar­ter.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER