Publications

View and download slide summaries of the latest original articles focusing on therapies in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases including rheumatology, dermatology, and gastroenterology. All materials produced by the team are subsequently reviewed and approved by individual Steering Committee members.

November 2025

Clinical efficacy of JAK inhibitors for rheumatoid arthritis patients with poor-prognosis factors: The ANSWER cohort study

Rheumatology 2025 Doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keaf552 Epub ahead of print

Sendo S,

Okano T,

Shiba H,

Son Y,

Itami T,

Shiga T,

Nozaki et al. showed that JAK inhibitor treatment provided sustained disease control (especially in high-risk RA patients) and promoted GC reduction, although TNF inhibitors remain a standard option. Nozaki et al. evaluated the clinical efficacy and continuation rates of JAK inhibitors and TNF inhibitors in RA patients with poor-prognosis factors (PPFs).

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December 2023

Real-world Comparative Study of the Efficacy of Janus Kinase Inhibitors in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: The ANSWER Cohort Study

Rheumatology 2023 doi 10.1093/rheumatology/kead543

Maeda T,

Okano T,

Ueda Y,

Fujii T,

Hata K,

Yoshikawa A,

Ebina K,

Etani Y,

Amuro H,

Hara R,

Okano T,

This multicentre, retrospective study by Hayashi, et al. found no significant differences in efficacy and safety between tofacitinib, baricitinib, peficitinib and upadacitinib in patients with RA. Predictive factors for resistance to LDA achievement included baseline CRP and CDAI for tofacitinib and baseline glucocorticoid dose, baseline CDAI and number of previous b/tsDMARDs for baricitinib.

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July 2020

Drug retention of 7 biologics and tofacitinib in biologics-naïve and biologics-switched patients with rheumatoid arthritis: the ANSWER cohort study

Arthritis Res Ther 2020;22:142

Ebina K,

Maeda Y,

Shiba H,

Son Y,

Amuro H,

Hara R,

This paper is based upon a long-term cohort study, namely the ANSWER cohort, an observational multi-centre registry of RA patients in the Kansai district of Japan. Analyses demonstrate a difference in observed drug retention between bDMARDs-naïve and bDMARDs-switched patients. 7 bDMARD treatments were compared in patients with no prior exposure to biologics, with abatacept showing the greatest retention rate. In patients that had switched between these same bDMARDs or to tofacitinib throughout t...