Ozanimod as induction therapy and maintenance therapy for ulcerative colitis

N Engl J Med 2021;385:1280–91 doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2033617

Patients receiving ozanimod displayed a significant improvement in clinical response and all secondary endpoints during both the 10-week induction and 52-week maintenance study periods. Percentage of patients achieving clinical remission at Weeks 10 and 52 was the primary endpoint.

July 2021

Bimekizumab versus adalimumab in plaque psoriasis

N Engl J Med 2021; 385:130–41. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2102388

Bimekizumab was noninferior and superior to adalimumab with respect to PASI 90 response and IGA score at Week 16. Bimekizumab is a promising IL-17A/F inhibitor that has shown clinical improvement in PsO patients compared to placebo and other IL inhibitors. Warren et al. compared the safety and efficacy of bimekizumab with adalimumab in a 56-week double-blind trial.

June 2021

The JAK/STAT pathway is receiving increasing attention in modulation of nociceptive responses, given its clear role in cytokine signalling. The authors of this review speculate that JAKinibs may have an effect on the modulation of nociception and reduction of pain.Crispino N, et al. review the impact of pain in patients with rheumatic disease and the physiological basis of modulating nociceptive pain. They examine the role of cytokines in the modulation of pain and analyse current clinical JAKin...

April 2021

Understanding of the B-cell receptor signalling pathway led to the identification of a suitable drug target to addresses autoimmunity and inflammation in areas such as MS, RA, pemphigus and SLE. There are currently 22 BTKis in various stages of clinical development. However, AEs such as cardiovascular and bleeding side effects, as well as rash, diarrhoea and infections have been associated with the inhibition of other kinases with a BTKi-binding cysteine in their catalytic domain.Based on clinic...

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The first study to combine in vitro inhibition of cytokine responses in whole blood with clinical pharmacokinetics of individual JAKinibs to model daily cytokine-mediated pharmacodynamic profiles in healthy individuals and patients with RA, has demonstrated that JAKinib potencies depended on cytokine stimulus, pSTAT readout and cell type.Traves and colleagues have observed that JAKinibs have unique, differential effects on specific cytokine signalling pathways, dependent on cytokine stimulus, ST...

February 2021

Bimekizumab was more efficacious than ustekinumab and placebo in the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Previous bimekizumab Phase 2 clinical studies have shown both rapid and durable clinical improvements in skin clearance, as well as a safety profile in line with expectations from this MoA. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of bimekizumab in moderate to severe plaque PsO over 1 year compared with both placebo and ustekinumab.

November 2020

Essai de l'Upadacitinib ou de l'Abatacept dans la Polyarthrite Rhumatoïde

N Engl J Med 2020;383:1511–21 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2008250

In patients with refractory RA to bDMARDs, upadacitinib was found to be superior to abatacept in DAS28-CRP change from baseline and the achievement of remission at week 12.612 bDMARD-IR patients were randomised 1:1 to UPA 15 mg QD or ABA, each in combination with stable synthetic DMARDs. At Week 12, patients with <20% decrease in TJC and Swollen joint count (SJC) had background medication adjusted or added. All patients completing Week 24 were eligible to remain in an open-label, long-term exten...

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October 2020

Amrhein et al examined the different uptake and expulsion mechanisms of BARI and TOF in cellular assays. Different cellular uptake mechanism for BARI and TOF was observed and showed that BARI’s transport was not dependent on organic cation transporters. Results indicated TOF was exported from RASF in a MATE-1 dependent way. TOF might be exported from healthy cells, thereby not inhibiting JAK pathway in these cellsThe interaction of BARI and TOF with OCTs was investigated using quenching experime...

February 2020

In this study examining the effect of FIL on a panel of biomarkers, FIL down-modulated several key inflammatory mediators of signalling pathways in RA - independent of MTX background therapy. This confirmed the strong network effects of the JAK1 node in autoimmunity, matrix and cartilage degradation, angiogenesis, and leukocyte adhesion and recruitment. Biomarkers key to RA pathophysiology were measured at baseline, Wk4 and Wk12 in FIL 100 mg, FIL 200 mg or PBO treatment groups from two phase 2b...

January 2020

In this first in-human phase I, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor evobrutinib was well-tolerated, showed linear and time-independent PK, induced long-lasting BTK inhibition, and was not associated with prolongation of QT/QTc interval in healthy subjects. Evobrutinib is an oral BTK inhibitor that has demonstrated efficacy in pre-clinical and autoimmune disease models. BTK is a key regulator of B cell receptor and Fc receptor signalling, and a rat...