Comparative risk of incident malignancies in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with janus kinase inhibitors or bDMARDs: observational data from the German RABBIT register
Ann Rheum Dis 2025;25:01024-6 doi: 10.1016/j.ard.2025.05.014
Schaefer et al. showed that treatment with JAKis (predominantly BARI and TOF) was associated with an increased HR of malignancies compared to treatment with bDMARDs in the overall study cohort, consistent with results from the ORAL surveillance trial. To better understand the complex role of JAKis in cancer development in RA patients, Schaefer et al. estimated the effects of JAKis compared to bDMARDs on the risk of malignancy (excluding NMSC) in patients with RA.
An increase in the malignancy risk for JAKi vs bDMARD treatment could only be observed in treatment episodes lasting >16 months. The risk appeared higher in some subgroups of patients, including those who started treatment aged ≥60 years, patients with ≥3 prior csDMARD treatments, and patients with high disease activity.
