February 2018

Radiographic Joint Damage in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients: Comparing Tocilizumab- and Methotrexate-based Treat-to-target Strategies

Rheumatology (Oxford) 2018; 57(2):309–17

Tocilizumab (TCZ) therapy in DMARD-naïve patients with RA, is more effective at reducing erosion progression, particularly in the feet, compared with treat-to-target methotrexate (MTX) therapy. This analysis looked at radiographic joint damage, including separate examination of erosion progression and joint space narrowing (JSN) in the hands and feet of patients enrolled in the U-Act-Early trial. Radiographic damage is a common symptom of RA, with treat-to-target strategies aimed at preventing ...

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Professor Iain McInnes Reviews the Most Important Papers from 2017

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

2017 was a successful year for rheumatoid arthritis research, with some key advances in JAK inhibitors and IL-6 inhibitors, as outlined below. - Tofacitinib was suggested as a potential treatment for psoriatic arthritis, and NICE recommended tofacitinib as a treatment for moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis - Baricitinib studies supported the potential use of baricitinib as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis - Filgotinib Phase 2 studies suggested that filgotinib could be effective a...

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January 2018

Subcutaneous Tocilizumab in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Findings from the Common-framework Phase 4 Study Programme TOZURA Conducted in 22 Countries

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2018 Mar 1;57(3):499-507. DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/kex443

This multi-national TOZURA study programme confirmed the efficacy and safety profile of subcutaneous tocilizumab (TC-SC) when administered as either monotherapy or in combination with csDMARDs. TOZURA was a Phase 4 study programme that evaluated open-label, TCZ-SC in patients with moderate-to-severe RA. A total of 1804 patients with active RA were enrolled in the study programme. Patients had inadequate responses to csDMARDs, anti-TNF therapies, or they were MTX-naïve. TCZ-SC was administered we...

Two-year Efficacy and Safety of Subcutaneous Tocilizumab in Combination with Disease-modifying Antirheumatic Drugs Including Escalation to Weekly Dosing in Rheumatoid Arthritis

J Rheumatol 2018 Apr; 45(4):456-464

This 2-year Phase 3 study, proved that subcutaneous tocilizumab (TC-SC) has long-term efficacy and an acceptable safety profile. Patients enrolled had been previously diagnosed with RA with an inadequate response to DMARDs. Patients were randomised 2:1 to receive doses of TCZ-SC (n=437) or PBO (n=219) every other week for 6 months. After this time, all patients received TCZ-SC. Escape therapy, defined as weekly TCZ-SC, was available to patients from Month 3. Efficacy was analysed using ACR respo...

December 2017

Effect of Glucocorticoids on the Clinical and Radiographic Efficacy of Tofacitinib in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Posthoc Analysis of Data from 6 Phase III studies

J Rheumatol 2018 Feb; 45(2):177-87

In this post hoc analysis, six Phase 3 studies were used to analyse the effect of glucocorticoids (GC) on the efficacy of tofacitinib (TOF) in patients with RA. Concomitant use of GC did not affect the clinical or radiographic outcomes of patients treated with TOF. Data from all six clinical trials were evaluated, with four studies (ORAL Scan, ORAL Standard, ORAL Sync and ORAL Step) being pooled for analysis. In these studies, MTX was used as a comparison and patients were required to maintain a...

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JAK Inhibition as a Therapeutic Strategy for Immune and Inflammatory Diseases

Nat Rev Drug Discov 2017;16:843–62 DOI: 10.1038/nrd.2017.201

Janus kinases (JAKs) are essential mediators of downstream signaling pathways in many inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. This review summarizes current clinical data on first- and second-generation JAK inhibitors (jakinibs) and discusses their use for the treatment of immune and inflammatory conditions.First generation jakinibs such as tofacitinib, baricitinib, and ruxolitinib, non-selectively inhibit JAK-dependent pro-inflammatory cytokines, which are major contributors to immunopathology. T...

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November 2017

Herpes Zoster and Tofacitinib: Clinical Outcomes and the Risk of Concomitant Therapy

Arthritis Rheumatol 2017;69(10):1960–68

The results of this analysis of patients with herpes zoster (HZ) within the global tofacitinib (TOF) RA programme suggest that there is likely to be a greater HZ risk in patients receiving TOF and glucocorticoids compared with patients receiving TOF monotherapy.The global TOF RA development programme comprised 2 Phase 1, 9 Phase 2, 6 Phase 3 and 2 long-term extension studies. These studies included 6192 patients; data were reviewed to identify cases of HZ. Crude incidence rates of number of pati...

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Treatment Persistence and Healthcare Costs Among Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Changing Biologics in the USA

Adv Ther. 2017 Nov;34(11):2422-2435. doi: 10.1007/s12325-017-0617-5

Updated treatment guidelines recommend the use of different mechanism of action (MOA) therapies earlier in the treatment course. Clinical studies have revealed that this approach may be better than TNFi cycling, and may be more cost effective.This study of Commercial and Medicare Advantage claims data showed that patients who switched MOA had higher treatment persistence and lower healthcare costs than TNFi cyclers.After the first TNFi claim, patients either cycled to another TNFi (n=935) or swi...

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October 2017

Impact of Tocilizumab Monotherapy On Patient-Reported Outcomes in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis from Two Randomised Controlled Trials

RMD Open;3:e000496. doi: 10.1136/rmdopen-2017-000496

This post hoc analysis of 2 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) AMBITION and ADACTA found that tocilizumab monotherapy results in substantial and clinically meaningful improvements in patient-reported outcomes (PROs) over 24 weeks.PROs assessed included patient global assessment (PtGA), pain, HAQ-DI, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT-F) and Short-Form-36 (SF-36) physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) and eight domain scores.Tocilizumab (TCZ) mon...

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Lymphoma in the Tofacitinib Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Development Program

Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2018 May;70(5):685-694. doi: 10.1002/acr.23421

Analysis of 19 studies involving the use of tofacitinib to treat RA showed that lymphoma incidence rate and type were consistent with expectations in the RA population as a whole, and did not increase with tofacitinib exposure time.Previous research has suggested that there is a link between the likelihood of developing malignant tumours and RA. Previously, it has been unclear whether the increased rates seen are due to the use of immunomodulatory therapies, such as tofacitinib, which are used a...

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