August 2022

Upadacitinib for the Treatment of Active Non-radiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis (SELECT-AXIS 2): A Randomised, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Phase 3 Trial

Lancet 2022 doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01212-0

Upadacitinib significantly improved the signs and symptoms of nr-axSpA compared with placebo at Week 14 in this investigation. Prior to this, upadacitinib had been shown to be effective in patients with AS. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of upadacitinib in non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis.

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June 2022

Filgotinib Decreases Both Vertebral Body and Posterolateral Spine Inflammation in Ankylosing Spondylitis: Results from The TORTUGA Trial

Rheumatology 2022;61:2388–2397. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keab758

Maksymowych et al., assessed the effects of filgotinib on inflammatory and structural changes at various spinal locations, based on MRI measures in patients with active ankylosing spondylitis in the TORTUGA trial. Correlations between changes in the inflammation score and clinical outcomes were also evaluated.

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May 2022

Drug survival of biologics and novel immunomodulators for rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and psoriasis – A nationwide cohort study from the DANBIO and DERMBIO registries

Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2022 doi: 10.1016/j.semarthrit.2022.151979

The authors reviewed drug survival of therapies across common inflammatory skin and joint conditions from national registries.  The findings highlighted that despite the overlapping pathogenesis of these conditions there was little similarity in drug survival. This reinforces the need for an individualised treatment approach consistent with the underlying disease, patient profile and treatment history.

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Treatment of axial spondyloarthritis: an update

Nat Rev Rheumatol. 18, 205–216 (2022) 2022 doi: 10.1038/s41584-022-00761-z

In this review Danve and Deodhar report an update on modern axSpa treatment. They found that in the past two decades substantial progress in the diagnosis and management of axSpA has been witnessed. Whilst ASAS classification criteria have enabled earlier diagnosis the increased availability of novel therapies, evolving drug safety data and novel clinical trials have allowed clinicians to rethink the placement and timing of drugs in disease management.

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