Formulary
Bimekizumab: Indications, Dosing, Side Effects and Interactions
Bimekizumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody that binds with high affinity to interleukin-17A, 17F and 17AF to block the activity of pro-inflammatory...
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Bimekizumab: Indications, Dosing, Side Effects and Interactions
Bimekizumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody that binds with high affinity to interleukin-17A, 17F and 17AF to block the activity of pro-inflammatory...
Drug action
Bimekizumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody that binds with high affinity to interleukin-17A, 17F and 17AF to block the activity of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
Indications and dose
**Moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis (under expert supervision)**
- **Adult** (By Subcutaneous Injection): 320 mg every 4 weeks for 5 doses (at weeks 0, 4, 8, 12 and 16), followed by maintenance 320 mg every 8 weeks, patients weighing 120 kg who do not achieve completely clear skin after 16 weeks of treatment may be considered for maintenance dosing of 320 mg every 4 weeks.
**Psoriatic arthritis (under expert supervision),Ankylosing spondylitis (under expert supervision),Non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (under expert supervision)**
- **Adult** (By Subcutaneous Injection): 160 mg every 4 weeks.
**Psoriatic arthritis with concomitant moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis (under expert supervision)**
- **Adult** (By Subcutaneous Injection): 320 mg every 4 weeks for 5 doses (at weeks 0, 4, 8, 12 and 16), followed by maintenance 320 mg every 8 weeks, if clinical response in joints cannot be maintained after 16 weeks of treatment, consider a dose of 160 mg every 4 weeks. Patients weighing 120 kg who do not achieve completely clear skin after 16 weeks of treatment may be considered for a dose of 320 mg every 4 weeks.
**Hidradenitis suppurativa (under expert supervision)**
- **Adult** (By Subcutaneous Injection): 320 mg every 2 weeks up to week 16, followed by maintenance 320 mg every 4 weeks.
Cautions
Chronic infection; history of recurrent infection Cautions, further information Infection Consider anti-tuberculosis therapy before initiation of bimekizumab in patients with a history of tuberculosis in whom an adequate course of treatment cannot be confirmed. M Consider completing appropriate immunisations according to current guidelines before starting. M
Contraindications
Clinically significant active infection; inflammatory bowel disease
Side effects
Common or very common Fatigue; headache; increased risk of infection; skin reactions Uncommon Conjunctivitis; inflammatory bowel disease; neutropenia
Interactions
**Other interactions (5):**
- Thus, anti-inflammatory treatments, such as with the IL-17A and IL-17F inhibitor bimekizumab, may result in normalisation of CYP450 levels with accompanying lower exposure of CYP450-metabolised...
- Therefore, a clinically relevant effect on CYP450 substrates with a narrow therapeutic index, in which the dose is individually adjusted (e.g.
- On initiation of bimekizumab therapy in patients being treated with these types of medicinal products, therapeutic monitoring should be considered.
- Population pharmacokinetic (PK) data analyses indicated that concomitant administration of conventional disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (cDMARDs) including methotrexate or prior exposure to...
- Live vaccines should not be given concurrently with bimekizumab (see section 4.4).
Pregnancy
Avoid-no information available. M
Breast feeding
Specialist sources indicate use with caution, especially if breast-feeding a neonate or preterm infant (no information available). Large molecular weight suggests limited excretion into milk and drug molecule likely to be partially destroyed in the infant's gastro-intestinal tract.
Medicinal forms
Clinical governance
**Author:** MedNext Clinical Team. **Clinical reviewer:** Dr Shameer Deen, MBBS, MS, MRCS. **Sources:** BNF, Indian Pharmacopoeia, CIMS India. **Correction:** Report errors at support@mednext.academy.
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