Novartis’ plaque psoriasis drug Cosentyx (secukinumab) showed superiority to Janssen Biotech’s Stelara (ustekinumab) in a head-to-head phase 3 study, Novartis said Tuesday.

Plaque psoriasis is a skin disease often characterized by itchy, painful, red patches on the body.

The CLARITY trial demonstrated “highly significant” differences between the two drugs in reaching the co-primary endpoints of a 90 percent or more improvement from Baseline Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI 90), and an Investigator's Global Assessment (IGA) mod 2011 0/1 (clear or almost clear) response rates, the company said.

At week 12, 66.5 percent of people in the Cosentyx arm achieved PASI 90 whereas 47.9 percent in the Stelara arm did the same. More in the Novartis’ drug group also scored IGA mod 2011 0/1 than Stelara's (72.3 percent versus 55.4 percent), the data showed.

Patients taking Cosentyx also had notably greater PASI 100 responses than those receiving Stelara at week 12, according to the study results.

Novartis had previously shown the superiority of the drug over Stelara at 52 weeks in a previous CLEAR study.

Cosentyx is a fully human IL-17A inhibitor approved to treat psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis. The drug has won approval in 80 countries to treat moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, according to the company.