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The developments of certain malignancies associated with chronic inflammatory diseases such as RA is known to occur to a greater extent than that of the general population. It is also know that certain RA treatments can affect malignancy rates. As such, newer immunomodulatory agents, such as the JAK inhibitor tofacitinib, are closely monitored for safety events of special interest, including malignancies.

This paper analyses pooled malignancy data from the tofacitinib RA clinical development programme to help assess the potential role of JAK inhibition in the development of malignancies.

The data shows that standardised incidence ratios of observed cancers in tofacitinib-treated patients were within the range expected for patients with moderate-to-severe RA. Overall rates and types of malignancies remained stable over time with increasing tofacitinib exposure.