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

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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Tofacitinib Modulates the VZV-specific CD4+ T Cell Immune Response in vitro in Lymphocytes of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatology (Oxford) 2019;58(11):2051–60

TOF significantly modulated the Th1 response to Varicella-zoster-virus (VZV). The poor VZV-specific cellular immune responses in patients with RA may be considered in recommendations regarding appropriate vaccination strategies for enhancing the VZV-specific Th1 response.Previous studies have shown that treatment with JAKinibs increases HZ incidence compared with conventional DMARDs. This cross-sectional in vitro study aimed to investigate the effect of TOF on the VZV-specific T cell immune resp...

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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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