October 2019

Risk Factors for Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Phase III and Long-Term Extension Studies of Tofacitinib in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Arthritis Rheumatol .2019 Sep;71(9):1450-1459. doi: 10.1002/art.40911. Epub 2019 Aug 6.

Post hoc analyses of the six ORAL studies and two LTE’s suggested that after 24 weeks of TOF treatment, increases in HDL-c and decreases in the TC/HDL-c ratio appeared to be associated with reduced future MACE risk in RA patients. 52 MACE occurred in 4076 patients over 12873 patient-years of exposure. Separate Cox regression models were used to evaluate traditional CV risk factors’ association with time to first MACE at baseline and changes in lipid levels with time to future MACE after 24 weeks...

Keywords:

Changes in Lipid Levels and Incidence of Cardiovascular Events Following Tofacitinib Treatment in Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis: A Pooled Analysis Across Phase 3 and Long-Term Extension Studies

Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) 2019;71(10):1387–95

Serum lipid level increases at month 3 following TOF treatment in PsA were consistent with observation in RA and psoriasis. The risk of CV disease is higher in people with PsA versus the general population – comparable with the well-documented rates seen in RA and diabetes. The reasons for this are not fully elucidated, but it has been suggested that there is an association between peripheral joint inflammation and lipid dysregulation in PsA. This post hoc analysis of pooled data from OPAL Broad...

Keywords:

Effect of Baricitinib and Adalimumab in Reducing Pain and Improving Function in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis in Low Disease Activity: Exploratory Analyses from RA-BEAM

J Clin Med. 2019 Sep 5;8(9). pii: E1394

Post hoc analyses from RA-BEAM concluded that BARI 4 mg QD or ADA 40 mg Q2W resulted in improvements in pain, physical function, fatigue and work productivity in patients with RA, independent of the treatment’s impact on inflammation. Among patients achieving remission or LDA, greater improvements in pain and physical function were seen with BARI than with ADA or PBO.Of 1010 patients included in the analysis at Week 24, 168 were in remission, 310 were in remission/LDA and 700 were not in remissi...

Keywords:

June 2019

Efficacy and Pharmacodynamic Modeling of the BTK Inhibitor Evobrutinib in Autoimmune Disease Models

J Immunol 2019;202:2888–2906. DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1800583

BTK is involved in both adaptive and innate immune responses and mediates signalling of several immune receptors of relevance to RA and SLE pathogenesis. Targeting BTK is a promising approach therefore for autoimmune disorders with aberrant B cell responses. Evobrutinib is a novel, highly specific, and irreversible BTK inhibitor. In vivo and animal models showed that evobrutinib modulated B cell and innate immune cell activation, was efficacious, and prevented joint damage. The potency of evobru...

Keywords: