What I Wish I’d Known Sooner About Psoriatic Arthritis

When your skin and joints are both asking for answers

If your hands are your tools, you notice right away when something is off.

For Al, a mechanic and grandfather who has spent decades on his feet and under the hood, mornings started to feel different. His symptoms started with foot pain and skin build-up.

“I first saw a podiatrist for foot pain and skin build-up. After reviewing my X-rays, they referred me to a rheumatologist. That’s when I learned I had psoriatic arthritis (PsA).”

His experience highlights something important about psoriatic disease: symptoms can show up in more than one way, including in the skin and joints.

What is Psoriatic Arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when the immune system becomes overactive, leading to inflammation in the joints and skin. This can cause symptoms such as joint pain, swelling, and stiffness, along with skin changes.

Many people initially experience plaque psoriasis first, a condition that affects the skin, but PsA involves more than what’s visible on the surface. It can also affect the joints, tendons, and other parts of the body, sometimes in ways that aren’t easy for others to see. Up to 30% of people with plaque psoriasis will go on to develop PsA.

In people with PsA, the immune system becomes overactive, sending signals that cause inflammation throughout the body which can lead to joint pain, swelling, stiffness, and skin and nail changes. Symptoms can vary from person to person and may change from day to day.

For Al, learning more about PsA helped him better understand how his skin and joint symptoms could be connected.

TYK2 is a molecule within the immune system that plays a key role in passing on signals in psoriatic arthritis. SOTYKTU^® (deucravacitinib) helps decrease those signals by selectively targeting and blocking TYK2. After discussions with his health care provider, Al decided that SOTYKTU was the right choice for him.

What is SOTYKTU?

SOTYKTU is a prescription medicine approved to treat adults with active psoriatic arthritis. Treatment decisions are made in partnership with a health care provider. Talking through how symptoms show up in daily life — including both physical and emotional impacts — can help guide those conversations.

In two clinical studies involving 1294 adults with active psoriatic arthritis, 648 received SOTYKTU, and 646 received placebo (a pill with no medicine). In these studies, 54% of patients saw noticeable improvement in relief from joint symptoms, tenderness, and swelling at 4 months compared to 34% and 39% for placebo. This was based on an improvement score that combined multiple scores for: joint swelling and tenderness, pain, disability, inflammation, and both patient and doctor assessments.

In both studies, more patients with skin plaques taking SOTYKTU achieved 75% clearer skin at Week 16 vs placebo (SOTYKTU: 51.9% and 40.9%; placebo: 7.1% and 15.4%).

SELECT IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

Like all medications, SOTYKTU may cause serious side effects, including serious allergic reactions. Stop taking SOTYKTU and get emergency medical help right away if you develop any of the following symptoms of a serious allergic reaction: feel faint, swelling of your face, eyelids, lips, mouth, tongue, or throat, trouble breathing or throat tightness, chest tightness, skin rash, or hives.

It’s important to be aware of any side effects that may come up when starting a new treatment, so be sure to talk with your health care professional about what to watch for. See additional Important Safety Information below and U.S. Full Prescribing Information, including Medication Guide.

Living With PsA: Al’s Experience

Al, a SOTYKTU® (deucravacitinib) patient, is a grandfather, husband, and mechanic.

Before his diagnosis, Al had trouble finding the words to describe how PsA affected his daily life. Some symptoms were visible, others weren’t. Some days were manageable. Others were harder.

Getting clarity made a difference. Knowing that PsA could explain the mix of symptoms helped him feel less uncertain and more confident talking about what he was experiencing. Over time, Al learned to prepare for appointments by tracking when symptoms showed up, how long stiffness lasted, and what tasks felt hardest.

Living with PsA is still a process, but feeling informed has helped him better track and describe his symptoms.

Why PsA Symptoms Can Feel Unpredictable

PsA doesn’t always follow a pattern. Many people experience flares when symptoms worsen, followed by periods when things feel more manageable. Fatigue may show up even when joints feel okay. Pain or stiffness might linger long after the workday ends.

Because PsA can affect people differently, keeping notes about symptoms, for example, pain levels, stiffness duration and activities affected, can help support more productive conversations with a health care provider.

Starting the Treatment Conversation

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to managing PsA. Treatment decisions are personal and often evolve over time. Talking openly with a health care provider can help ensure those decisions reflect what matters most to you.

Some questions that may help start the conversation include:

Could this be psoriatic arthritis?
What symptoms are common in PsA?
How do we confirm a diagnosis?
How will we measure changes over time?
Which treatment options address joint symptoms and skin symptoms?

Moving Forward

If you’re living with joint pain, stiffness, skin symptoms, or fatigue that doesn’t feel quite right, you’re not alone and you deserve answers. Keeping a record of symptoms, asking questions, and working with a health care provider to develop a plan can help you move forward.

To learn more about psoriatic arthritis, talk with a health care provider about whether SOTYKTU may be an option and visit the SOTYKTU website.

INDICATIONS

SOTYKTU^® (deucravacitinib) is a prescription medicine used to treat:

adults with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis who may benefit from taking injections or pills (systemic therapy) or treatment using ultraviolet or UV light (phototherapy).
adults with active psoriatic arthritis.

It is not known if SOTYKTU is safe and effective in children under 18 years of age.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION about SOTYKTU (deucravacitinib)

SOTYKTU may cause serious side effects, including:

Serious allergic reactions. Stop taking SOTYKTU and get emergency medical help right away if you develop any of the following symptoms of a serious allergic reaction:

feel faint
swelling of your face, eyelids, lips, mouth, tongue, or throat
trouble breathing or throat tightness
chest tightness
skin rash, hives

Infections. SOTYKTU is a medicine that affects your immune system. SOTYKTU can lower the ability of your immune system to fight infections and can increase your risk of infections. Some people have had serious infections while taking SOTYKTU, such as infections of the lungs, including pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB), and COVID-19.

Your healthcare provider should check you for infections and TB before starting treatment with SOTYKTU and watch you closely for signs and symptoms of TB during SOTYKTU treatment.
You may be treated for TB before you begin SOTYKTU treatment if you have a history of TB or have active TB.
If you get a serious infection, your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking SOTYKTU until your infection is controlled.

SOTYKTU should not be used in people with an active, serious infection, including localized infections. You should not start taking SOTYKTU if you have any kind of infection unless your healthcare provider tells you it is okay.

You may be at a higher risk of developing shingles (herpes zoster).

Before starting SOTYKTU, tell your healthcare provider if you:

are being treated for an infection, or have had an infection that does not go away or keeps coming back
have TB or have been in close contact with someone with TB
have or have had hepatitis B or C
think you have an infection or have symptoms of an infection such as:
- fever, sweats, or chills
- muscle aches
- weight loss
- cough
- shortness of breath
- blood in your phlegm (mucus)
- warm, red, or painful skin or sores on your body different from your psoriasis
- diarrhea or stomach pain
- burning when you urinate or urinating more often than normal
- feeling very tired

After you start taking SOTYKTU, call your healthcare provider right away if you have an infection or have symptoms of an infection.

SOTYKTU can make you more likely to get infections or make any infections you have worse.

Cancer. Certain kinds of cancer including lymphoma have been reported in people taking SOTYKTU. Tell your healthcare provider if you have ever had any type of cancer.

Muscle problems (rhabdomyolysis). SOTYKTU can cause muscle problems that can be severe. Treatment with SOTYKTU may increase the level of an enzyme in your blood called creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and can be a sign of muscle damage. Increased CPK is common in people taking SOTYKTU. Your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking SOTYKTU if the amount of CPK in your blood gets too high or if you have signs and symptoms of severe muscle problems. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these signs or symptoms of severe muscle problems: unexplained muscle pain, tenderness, or weakness, feeling very tired, fever, or dark-colored urine.

Do not take SOTYKTU if you are allergic to deucravacitinib or any of the ingredients in SOTYKTU.

Before taking SOTYKTU, tell your healthcare provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you: have liver problems or kidney problems, have diabetes, have high levels of fat in your blood (triglycerides), or have recently received or are scheduled to receive an immunization (vaccine), as you should avoid receiving live vaccines during treatment with SOTYKTU.

Tell your healthcare provider if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or if you are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. It is not known if SOTYKTU can harm your unborn baby or if SOTYKTU passes into your breast milk.

Report pregnancies to the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company’s Adverse Event reporting line at 1-800-721-5072

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Keep a list of them to show your healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine.

Take SOTYKTU exactly as your healthcare provider tells you to take it. Take SOTYKTU 1 time every day, with or without food. Do not crush, cut, or chew the SOTYKTU tablets.

SOTYKTU may cause serious side effects, including:

Changes in certain laboratory test results. Changes in laboratory tests have happened in some people taking SOTYKTU. Your healthcare provider may do blood tests before you start taking SOTYKTU and during treatment with SOTYKTU to check for the following:

- - Increased triglycerides. Too much fat in your blood can cause problems with your heart.
  - Increased liver enzymes. If your liver enzymes increase too much, your healthcare provider may need to do additional tests on your liver and may tell you to stop taking SOTYKTU if they think that SOTYKTU is harming your liver.

Potential risks from Janus kinase (JAK) inhibition. SOTYKTU is a tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor. TYK2 is in the JAK family. It is not known whether taking SOTYKTU has the same risks as taking JAK inhibitors. Increased risk of death (all causes) has happened in people who were 50 years of age and older with at least 1 heart disease (cardiovascular) risk factor who were taking a JAK inhibitor used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to people taking another medicine in a class of medicines called TNF blockers. SOTYKTU is not for use in people with RA. Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) in people with diabetes has happened after taking JAK inhibitors. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any problems with low blood sugar.

The most common side effects of SOTYKTU include: common cold, sore throat and sinus infection (upper respiratory infections), cold sores (herpes simplex), sores on inner lips, gums, tongue, or roof of the mouth (canker sores), inflamed hair pores (folliculitis) and acne.

These are not all of the possible side effects of SOTYKTU.

Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see U.S. Full Prescribing Information, including the Medication Guide, for SOTYKTU.

SOTYKTU is a trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.