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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August 2019

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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Upadacitinib versus Placebo or Adalimumab in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and an Inadequate Response to Methotrexate: Results of a Phase 3, Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial

Arthritis Rheumatol 2019 DOI: 10.1002/art.41032

UPA demonstrated superiority to ADA in terms of clinical, functional and patient-reported outcomes with comparable radiographic inhibition. As many RA patients fail to achieve LDA and remission with TNF inhibitors and MTX there is a requirement for additional treatment options. In this SELECT-COMPARE study the clinical and functional outcomes of UPA were compared to ADA in MTX-IR patients. 1629 MTX-IR were randomly assigned 2:2:1 to; UPA 15mg QD, ADA 40mg Q2W or PBO, with background MTX. Key end...

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Safety and Effectiveness of Upadacitinib or Adalimumab Plus Methotrexate in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Over 48 Weeks with Switch to Alternate Therapy in Patients with Insufficient Response

Ann Rheum Dis 2019 DOI: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2019-215764

Consistent with Wk26 data, significantly more UPA patients achieved LDA and remission versus ADA and PBO over 48 weeks. RA patients often change therapy due to inadequate response and intolerance. The SELECT COMPARE study was designed to explore switching to JAK inhibitors from TNF inhibitors without a wash-out period (and vice versa). The long-term safety and efficacy of UPA was compared to ADA and PBO in MTX-IR.1629 patients were blindly assigned 2:2:1 to; UPA 15mg QD, ADA 40mg Q2W and PBO, wi...

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