June 11 (Reuters) - Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical 4502.T said on Thursday its experimental once-daily psoriasis pill, developed with the help of AI, outperformed Bristol Myers Squibb's BMY.N approved drug Sotyktu in a late-stage head-to-head study.

Here are some details:

• The Japanese drugmaker said the drug, zasocitinib, met the main goal of a late-stage trial in adults with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, achieving greater skin clearance than Sotyktu after 16 weeks of treatment.

• Plaque psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated skin disease that causes red, scaly, inflamed patches on the skin.

• Zasocitinib was developed using artificial intelligence, reflecting a growing trend in the pharmaceutical industry to use AI to speed drug development, shorten clinical trial timelines and reduce animal testing.

• Takeda said zasocitinib achieved complete skin clearance in 35% of patients after 16 weeks, more than 2.5 times the rate seen with Sotyktu.

• The company also said zasocitinib's safety profile was consistent with earlier studies and no new safety issues were identified.

• Takeda's daily pill offers a convenient option to treat plaque psoriasis, alongside Bristol Myers' Sotyktu and Amgen's AMGN.O Otezla, in a market largely dominated by injectables.

• The drugmaker is counting on zasocitinib as a potential blockbuster to help offset a revenue gap from the looming patent cliff for its inflammatory bowel disease drug Entyvio, which is expected to lose key patents by the end of the decade.

• Takeda said last year that it expects zasocitinib, if approved, to generate peak annual sales in the range of $3 billion to $6 billion.

• The drugmaker had acquired zasocitinib from Nimbus Therapeutics in 2022 in a deal valued at up to $6 billion.

• Takeda said it will present detailed data at upcoming medical meetings and remains on track to begin seeking FDA approval for zasocitinib to treat plaque psoriasis this fiscal year.