Efficacy and safety of ustekinumab biosimilars for treating moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

To compare the efficacy and safety of different ustekinumab biosimilars for treating moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis (PP), providing an evidence-based basis for clinical medication. We systematically searched randomized controlled trials on ustekinumab biosimilars for treating moderate-to-severe PP in adults from Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. Stata 18.0 was utilized for data analysis. Nine studies were included, involving 4293 moderate-to-severe PP patients. 1) Ustekinumab biosimilars and the reference listed drug (RLD) ustekinumab-RP had no significant difference in the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) improvement (P > 0.05), and the biosimilar CT-P43 was most effective in improving PASI at different time points. 2) For the dermatology life quality index, Bmab1200, AVT04 and CT-P43, had statistically significant differences from the RLD (P < 0.05). 3) The biosimilar CT-P43 was most effective in improving the Physician Global Assessment score, with the highest SUCRA value (99.8%). 4) The reduction of the body surface area and the treatment-emergent adverse event rate had no statistically significant difference from the RLD (P > 0.05). 5) The biosimilar CT-P43 and Bmab1200 demonstrated a lower probability of generating anti-drug antibodies, showing statistically significant differences from other biosimilars (P < 0.05). Ustekinumab biosimilars demonstrate comparable efficacy and safety to ustekinumab-RP for treating moderate-to-severe PP in adults. The biosimilar CT-P43 is more effective in improving short-term PASI. Due to limitations in the number and quality of included studies, more high-quality studies are required to validate these findings.