Sotyktu Tablets 6 mg for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (deucravacitinib, TYK2 inhibitor)

Are Sotyktu Tablets 6 mg effective for psoriasis vulgaris, pustular psoriasis, erythrodermic psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (TYK2 inhibitor)?

What are Sotyktu tablets?

Sotyktu tablets are a prescription medicine taken by mouth, classified as a TYK2 inhibitor. Each pale yellowish-red, round, film-coated tablet contains 6 mg of deucravacitinib. The medicine is approved for adults whose disease has not responded sufficiently to existing treatment:

• Psoriasis vulgaris, generalized pustular psoriasis and erythrodermic psoriasis
• Psoriatic arthritis

For the skin forms, the guidance describes patients whose rash covers 10% or more of the body surface despite systemic therapy (including phototherapy, but excluding biologics), or who have a refractory rash or pustules. For psoriatic arthritis, it describes patients with persistent joint symptoms despite conventional disease-modifying drugs. Sotyktu tablets help to control the disease but do not cure it completely.

How does it work?

TYK2 (tyrosine kinase 2) is an enzyme inside immune cells. It relays signals from interleukin-23, interleukin-12 and type I interferons, which drive inflammation in psoriasis. Deucravacitinib does not attach to the active site of the enzyme. It binds to a separate regulatory site and holds TYK2 in an inactive form, so the signal is blocked.

This design makes the effect selective. In whole-blood laboratory tests, the concentration needed to block TYK2-dependent signaling was roughly 41 to more than 200 times lower than that needed to block pathways that depend on JAK1, JAK2 or JAK3. In patients with psoriasis, treatment reduced the activity of psoriasis-related genes in the skin, especially those controlled by the interleukin-23 and type I interferon pathways. Levels of interleukin-17A, interleukin-19 and β-defensin fell as well.

What the clinical studies show

Two large trials compared deucravacitinib 6 mg once daily with placebo and with apremilast. The first was reported in Armstrong et al., “Deucravacitinib versus placebo and apremilast in moderate to severe plaque psoriasis: Efficacy and safety results from the 52-week, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled phase 3 POETYK PSO-1 trial,” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2023. It enrolled 666 patients, including 66 from Japan. At week 16, a 75% or greater improvement in the PASI skin score was reached by 58.4% of patients on deucravacitinib, 12.7% on placebo and 35.1% on apremilast. A clear or almost clear skin rating was reached by 53.6%, 7.2% and 32.1%, respectively. By week 24 the PASI 75 rate had risen to 69.3%, against 38.1% for apremilast.

The second trial was reported in “Deucravacitinib versus placebo and apremilast in moderate to severe plaque psoriasis: Efficacy and safety results from the 52-week, randomized, double-blinded, phase 3 Program fOr Evaluation of TYK2 inhibitor psoriasis second trial,” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2023. In 1,020 patients, PASI 75 at week 16 was 53.0% with deucravacitinib, 9.4% with placebo and 39.8% with apremilast.

Japanese data come from “Deucravacitinib, an oral, selective, allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 inhibitor, in Japanese patients with moderate to severe plaque, erythrodermic, or generalized pustular psoriasis: Efficacy and safety results from an open-label, phase 3 trial,” Journal of Dermatology, 2024. The trial followed 74 patients for 52 weeks: 63 with plaque psoriasis, 3 with generalized pustular psoriasis and 8 with erythrodermic psoriasis. At week 16, PASI 75 was reached by 71.6% and a clear or almost clear rating by 75.7%. At week 52, 82.6% of patients assessed had PASI 75 and 60.9% had PASI 90. All three patients with pustular psoriasis improved on the severity score, and 6 of 8 with erythrodermic psoriasis improved or reached remission. These subgroups are small, so the figures should be read with that in mind.

For joints, Mease et al. published “Deucravacitinib in Active Psoriatic Arthritis: Efficacy and Safety up to 52 Weeks From the Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase 3 POETYK PsA-2 Trial” in Arthritis & Rheumatology in 2026. Among 729 patients, an ACR 20 joint response at week 16 was reached by 54.2% on deucravacitinib and 39.4% on placebo. The response was sustained through 52 weeks with no new safety signals.

Package details: 30 tablets (10 tablets * 3 PTP)

Active components: deucravacitinib (6 mg per tablet)

Therapeutic effect: Selectively inhibits TYK2 and blocks interleukin-23, interleukin-12 and type I interferon signaling, which reduces inflammation in the skin and joints. Used in psoriasis vulgaris, generalized pustular psoriasis, erythrodermic psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis that have not responded sufficiently to existing treatment. A response usually appears within 24 weeks.

Dosage and administration: Adults take 6 mg (one tablet) once daily by mouth. The dosage can be adjusted by your doctor. If there is no response within 24 weeks, your doctor decides carefully whether to continue.

Contraindications and precautions: Do not use in patients with serious infection, active tuberculosis, or a history of hypersensitivity to any component. Use with caution in patients with infections, recurrent infections, a history of tuberculosis, or hepatitis B carriage or past infection. Avoid, where possible, in severe liver impairment (Child-Pugh C). Use in pregnancy only when the benefit outweighs the risk. The medicine passes into breast milk, so continuing breastfeeding is decided with your doctor. No clinical trials have been done in children. Do not receive live vaccines during treatment. Press each tablet out of the PTP sheet before swallowing.