December 2019

Highlights of 2019

Please click the links below to go to the CSF review of each paper

2019 was another remarkable year in cytokine signalling. We can be optimistic that clinical practice for inflammatory arthritis will continue to improve, with promising long-term safety data supporting the use of established JAK inhibitors; tofacitinib and baricitinib, in addition to exciting phase III clinical data for filgotinib and newly approved upadacitinib. You can find the most notable papers, as selected by CSF Steering Committee Chair Professor Iain McInnes, with links to their respecti...

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Two-Year Safety and Effectiveness of Peficitinib in Moderate-To-Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Phase IIb, Open-Label Extension Study

Rheumatol Ther . 2019 Dec;6(4):503-520. doi: 10.1007/s40744-019-00167-6. Epub 2019 Aug 13.

Peficitinib (PEF) 100 mg QD demonstrated a stable safety profile and sustained effectiveness in patients with moderate-to-severe RA in a two-year extension of two global phase IIb studies. Patients enrolled in the LTE had completed one of two 12-week phase IIb PEF trials, one with MTX and one without. The primary objective of the LTE was to assess treatment-emergent adverse events and clinical laboratory evaluations for 105 weeks. As a secondary objective, an additional 2-years of effectiveness ...

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November 2019

Exposure-Response Analyses of Upadacitinib Efficacy and Safety in Phase 2 and 3 Studies to Support Benefit-Risk Assessment in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Clin Pharmacol Ther . 2020 Apr;107(4):994-1003. doi: 10.1002/cpt.1671.

UPA 15 mg provided the optimal benefit-risk in RA through maximizing efficacy with only small incremental benefit with 30 mg, and with consistency across RA subpopulations and with UPA monotherapy or combination with csDMARDs. Exposure-response analyses were conducted using combined data from two Phase 2b and five Phase 3 studies in order to characterise the relationship between plasma exposure and efficacy, as well as to select safety parameters using the totality of the data in subjects with R...

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Comparative Efficacy and Safety of Peficitinib 25, 50, 100, and 150 mg in Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Bayesian Network Meta‑Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Clin Drug Investig .2020 Jan;40(1):65-72. doi: 10.1007/s40261-019-00863-9.

PEF 50, 100, and 150 mg once daily was effective in treating active RA, without causing a significant risk for AEs.Intracellular pathways, including JAK and Tyk-2, are critical for immune cell activation, pro-inflammatory cytokine production, and cytokine signaling. PEF has been developed for use in RA, but the comparative efficacy and safety of regimens and dosages has not been established. A Bayesian network meta-analysis was conducted to combine direct and indirect evidence to assess the rela...

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A systematic review and meta-analysis of infection risk with small molecule JAK inhibitors in rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatology (Oxford) 2019;58(10):1755–66

Absolute serious infection rates were low. However, across the JAKinibs, the incidence of HZ is higher than expected for the population. While the risk was numerically greatest with BARI, indirect comparisons between the drugs did not demonstrate any significant difference in risk. How JAKinibs increase the risk of HZ reactivation is unclear, but how different JAKs interact in the immune response suggest that there may be differences in safety profiles between JAKinib drugs, underpinned by their...

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October 2019

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...

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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...

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September 2019

Comparison of Baricitinib, Upadacitinib, and Tofacitinib Mediated Regulation of Cytokine Signalling in Human Leukocyte Subpopulations

Arthritis Res Ther. 2019 Aug 2;21(1):183

Different JAKinibs modulated distinct cytokine pathways to varying degrees, and no agent potently or continuously inhibited an individual cytokine signalling pathway throughout the dosing interval. This study aimed to compare the in vitro cellular pharmacology of BARI, TOF and UPA across relevant leukocyte subpopulations, coupled with their in vivo PK, to determine their effects on distinct cytokine pathways. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors were incubated with different JA...

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August 2019

Efficacy and Safety of Peficitinib (ASP015K) in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and an Inadequate Response to Methotrexate: Results of a Phase III Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial (RAJ4) in Japan

Ann Rheum Dis 2019 DOI: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2019-215164

Peficitinib (PEF) 100 and 150 mg demonstrated robust clinical and structural efficacy in patients with RA who have an inadequate response to MTX. In Japan, two JAK inhibitors, TOF and BARI are currently available for RA patients with an inadequate response to conventional therapies. This randomized phase 3 study (RAJ4), assessed the efficacy and safety of two PEF doses in combination with MTX compared to PBO, in Japanese MTX-IR. Patients were randomized 1:1:1 to PBO, PEF 100 mg and 150 mg with M...

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Effect of Filgotinib vs Placebo on Clinical Response in Patients with Moderate to Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis Refractory to Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drug Therapy: The FINCH 2 Randomized Clinical Trial

JAMA 2019 322(4):315-325

Among RA patients with an inadequate response or intolerance to bDMARDs, filgotinib (FIL) doses, compared to PBO resulted in significantly greater proportions achieving a clinical response at Wk12.Patients with active RA despite treatment with bDMARD therapy need treatment options. The FINCH 2 Phase 3 study compared the effects of FIL vs PBO for the treatment of RA patients with inadequate response or intolerance to ≥1 prior bDMARDs. Patients were randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio, receiving FIL 200 m...

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