March 2017

Efficacy and Safety of Tofacitinib in Older and Younger Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Clin Exp Rheumatol 2017 Jan 4

In this analysis of patients with moderate to severe RA treated with tofacitinib (TOF) in Phase 3 and long-term extension (LTE) studies, patients aged 65 years had similar efficacy and a numerically higher risk of SAEs and discontinuations due to AEs compared with younger patients.The Phase 3 population included patients from five trials (n=3111) of TOF 5 mg or 10 mg BID or placebo. The LTE population (n=4102) included patients from two studies who had participated in Phase 1, 2 or 3 TOF studie...

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February 2017

Analysis of Haematological Changes in Tofacitinib-treated Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis across Phase 3 and Long-term Extension Studies

Rheumatology 2017;56:46–57.

In this analysis examining haematological changes after tofacitinib (TOF) treatment in patients with RA from pooled Phase 3 and LTE studies, TOF decreased mean lymphocyte counts and slightly increased mean haemoglobin (Hb) levels. The Phase 3 population included patients from six trials (n=4271) of TOF 5- or 10 mg BID, placebo or active comparator up to 24 months. The LTE population (n=4858) included patients from two studies (of up to 84 months), who had participated in Phase 1, 2 or 3 TOF stud...

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January 2017

Five-year Efficacy and Safety of Tocilizumab Monotherapy in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis who were Methotrexate- and Biologic-naïve or Free of Methotrexate for 6 Months: the AMBITION Study

J Rheumatol 2017;44:2. DOI 10.3899/jrheum.160287.

Results from the AMBITION study (Actemra versus Methotrexate double-Blind Investigate Trial In mONotherapy), showed the continuing efficacy and safety of tocilizumab up to 264 weeks.AMBITION was a 24-week randomised controlled trial in patients with active RA who were either MTX-naïve or MTX-free for 6 months prior to study entry. Patients received TCZ 8 mg/kg IV Q4W or oral MTX weekly (7.5 mg dose escalating to 20 mg). For those patients who then entered the long-term extension (LTE) study (N=1...

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October 2016

RAPID3 and ACR/EULAR Provisional Definitions as Predictors of Radiographic Outcome in a Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Trial with Tocilizumab

Arthritis Care Res 2016; Accepted article. DOI 10.1002/acr.23008.

The findings reported represent the first validation of RAPID3 (Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3) remission ± SJC ≤1 as an alternative to the established SDAI or Boolean remission definitions, which can be time consuming and costly to measure. RAPID3 is a pooled index of the patient-reported measures: function, pain and Patient Global estimate of status.Data were analysed from the TociLIzumab Safety and THE Prevention of Structural Joint Damage (LITHE) study, a 2-year double-blind Phas...

July 2016

Switching from Adalimumab to Tofacitinib in the Treatment of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Arthritis Research & Therapy. 2016. DOI 10.1186/s13075-016-1049-3 [Epub ahead of print]

Results are reported from an analysis exploring the safety and efficacy of open-label tofacitinib (TOF) following blinded treatment with TOF or adalimumab (ADA) in patients with moderate to severe RA. The analysis included patients from ORAL Sequel, an open-label long-term extension study, which all patients entered following ORAL Standard (one of the studies in the TOF phase 3 program). Only those patients who had been randomized to ADA 40 mg Q2W + MTX or 10 mg TOF + MTX in ORAL Standard were i...

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Efficacy and Safety of Baricitinib in Japanese Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis Receiving Background Methotrexate Therapy: A 12-week, Double-blind, Randomized Placebo-controlled Study

J Rheumatol. 2016;43(3):504–511.

Clinical trials have shown baricitinib once daily to be effective in patients with RA. However, this Janus kinase (JAK) 1/JAK2 inhibitor has not been evaluated in a Japanese population. In this 12-week, placebo-controlled study, 145 Japanese patients were enrolled and received placebo, 1 mg, 2 mg, 4 mg or 8 mg oral baricitinib daily. Efficacy results were encouraging and consistent with earlier trials. Significantly more baricitinib patients achieved ACR20 response at Week 12 of treatment compar...

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March 2016

Comparative effects of biologics on cardiovascular risk among older patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Ann Rheum Dis 2016;0:1–6 doi:10.1136/ annrheumdis-2015-207870 [Epub ahead of print]

Since RA patients are at an increased risk of a CV event, there have been several studies to determine if RA treatments alter this risk. In a retrospective study, Zhang and colleagues assess the risk of CV events in patients initiating bDMARDs.Using Medicare medical and pharmacy claims data, the incidence rate (IR) of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and of a composite CHD* was calculated across RA patients initiating 8 different biologics: ABA, ADA, CER, ETA, GOL, INF, RIT, and TOC. There were...

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Pregnancy outcome after tocilizumab therapy in early pregnancy – a case series from the German Embryotox Pharmacovigilance Center

Reproductive Toxicology doi:10.1016/j.reprotox.2016.01.002

MTX users have an increased incidence of spontaneous abortions (SABs) compared to baseline risk (42.5%1 vs. 13-17%2). Tocilizumab (TCZ) has been shown to have similar efficacy with or without MTX. There is currently limited data on the effect of TCZ on pregnancy, but with more safety data, TCZ could be an alternative for RA patients of reproductive age. The patients were enrolled at Embryotox Berlin, a pharmacovigilance center providing risk assessment during pregnancy, between 2011 and 2014 dur...

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January 2016

Systematic review and meta-analysis of serious infections with tofacitinib and biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug treatment in rheumatoid arthritis clinical trials

Arthritis Res Ther. 2015 Dec 15;17(1):362

Tofacitinib is an oral Janus kinase inhibitor for the treatment of RA. By modulating the signalling of cytokines that are integral to lymphocyte activation, proliferation, and function, tofacitinib may suppress multiple elements of immune response. A systematic literature search including all biologics and tofacitinib procured 66 RCTs and 22 LTEs that were included in a meta-analysis to provide estimated incidence rates, risk ratios, and risk differences of serious infection for each therapy. Es...

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December 2015

Incidence and complications of interstitial lung disease in users of tocilizumab, rituximab, abatacept and anti-tumor necrosis factor α agents, a retrospective cohort study

Arthritis Research & Therapy (2015) 17:319 DOI: 10.1186/s13075-015-0835-7

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a common extra-articular condition for RA patients. This retrospective cohort study of health insurance databases investigates the ILD incidence and exacerbation between ABA, TCZ, RTX, and anti-TNFα agents in adult RA patients with prior biologic therapy. Two definitions of ILD were used: one specific, one sensitive; descriptive results were produced for both. In patients with no history of ILD, the overall incidence rate of ILD ranged from 1.8% to 6.4% (depend...

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