AbbVie released a high dose of Skyrizi (ingredient: risankizumab), an interleukin-23 (IL-23) inhibitor.

On Friday, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety authorized the use of Skyrizi Prefilled Syringe 150mg and Prefilled Pen 150mg to treat adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

Skyrizi 150mg is a single-dose 150 mg injection. After two starter doses (at weeks 0 and 4), the patient can receive one injection every 12 weeks.

With the latest approval, Skyrizi 150mg reduces the number of injections to half, as Skyrizi 75mg required two injections per dose.

Professor Park Eun-joo of dermatology at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital said Skyrizi was a treatment option with four doses per year for moderate to severe psoriasis with a long-lasting skin improvement effect and a consistent safety profile, given the results of many clinical trials.

“With the additional approval of the 150mg dose, physicians and patients will have more choices because it became possible to administer one injection per dose,” Park said.

The approval was based on clinical results showing that a single dose of Skyrizi 150mg met the primary endpoint and proved bioequivalence to the two injections of the existing 75mg.

Skyrizi Prefilled Pen 150mg also showed bioequivalence to Prefilled Syringe 150mg.

Patients can receive Skyrizi injections at a hospital or get training for subcutaneous injections and administer it by themselves.

Skyrizi Prefilled Pen 150mg was designed to improve patients’ treatment experience.