High levels of clinical responses were seen throughout the first 48 weeks with bimekizumab treatment. These were maintained to Week 96 in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque PsO.

February 2024

Effectiveness of Sequential Lines of Biologic and Targeted Small Molecule Drugs in Psoriatic Arthritis: A Systematic Review

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2024 Jan 18:keae006 doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keae006 Epub ahead of print

The authors found that there is a reduction in effectiveness of lines of bDMARDs after first-line in PsA, with inadequate data to determine response to tsDMARDs.

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January 2024

This post hoc analysis by Curtis, et al. found that current and former smokers were more likely to switch from an anti-TNF bDMARD to a different bDMARD or JAK inhibitor in comparison to non-smokers. They also found that DAS28(CRP) ≤3.2 achievement was significantly higher after filgotinib therapy regardless of smoking status in MTX-IR, bDMARD-IR, and MTX-naïve patients.

November 2023

Real-world data from the PsABio study indicated that females with PsA had more severe disease than males before the initiation of treatment. While both genders experienced treatment related improvements, fewer females than males were able to achieve a favourable disease state within 12 months. Treatment discontinuation and switching were also higher in females than males, due to lower efficacy and adverse events.      

October 2022

Data from the JAK-pot collaboration of registries show that cycling JAKinibs and switching to a bDMARD appear to have similar effectiveness, after failing the first JAKinib.

June 2022

Real-world population-based study shows that a switch to a second JAKinib results in a higher drug retention, as compared to switching to a TNFi, in patients with RA who discontinue original JAKinib therapy.

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February 2022

Post-hoc analysis shows that dosing up from tofacitinib 5 to 10 mg BID is associated with improved efficacy for up to 12 months, versus staying on 5 mg BID, and dosing down from 10 to 5 mg BID is not generally associated with a significant loss of efficacy.Although clinical trials have generally shown no significant differences, in terms of efficacy and safety, when switching tofacitinib dose up or down, these per-protocol switches are not directly informative for clinical decision-making in dai...

The JAK/STAT Pathway: A Focus on Pain in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2021 Feb;51(1):278-284

Many cytokines associated with RA pathogenesis and pain are affected directly or indirectly by the JAK/STAT pathway, therapeutic targeting may offer promise. Having better understanding of these mechanisms can help clinicians make treatment decisions that optimise the control of inflammation and pain. However, pain in patients with RA is complex and involves multiple driving mechanisms that may differentially occur over time in different people. Although one known constant is that nociceptive ac...

December 2020

Highlights of 2020

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

2020 unfolded apace, dominated by COVID-19 - we have all had to adapt in our practice and in our knowledge base. Amid this there have continued to be a constant flow of publications and science in cytokine signaling, and as in previous years as we come the end of 2020, I will highlight some of the notable papers of the year. You can find the most notable papers, as selected by CSF Steering Committee Chair Professor Iain McInnes, with links to their respective detailed summaries below:

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Both ACR and EULAR recommend adding a biologic or targeted synthetic DMARD in patients who do not achieve treatment goals at follow-up. Findings indicated that an immediate switch in mechanism of action (from JAKi to TNFi and vice versa) following treat-to-target principles is feasible with minimal risk of flare regardless of whether patients are switched due to non-response or incomplete-response.SELECT-COMPARE followed treat-to-target principles to examine the efficacy of switching in two pati...