Blocking the IL-6R is a major therapeutic advance for many diseases in adults and children. Updated consensus statement provides guidance to rheumatologists and other experts, as well as patients and administrators, on managing patients with the use of drugs blocking the IL-6 pathway.

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August 2022

In this investigation bimekizumab was associated with a sustained ACR50 improvement. This was highlighted following the attempt to describe the long-term safety, tolerability, and efficacy of up to three years of bimekizumab treatment in PsA patients

June 2022

Merola et al., reported the effect of interleukin (IL)-17A inhibition with secukinumab on cardiovascular (CV) risk parameters in patients with psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) over 1 year of treatment. This study evaluated data from 19 secukinumab related clinical trials in phase 3/4 in psoriasis, PsA, and axSpA.

December 2021

Highlights of 2021

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

I’m sure we’d all hoped that this year would be a return to normal but, in the midst of the challenges we’ve faced with COVID-19, the rheumatology community has continued to deliver excellent publications, and we’ve covered many of these on the CSF. Here are my highlights from 2021's publications: Points to Consider for the Treatment of Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases With Janus Kinase Inhibitors: A Co...

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November 2021

A review of JAK-STAT signalling in the pathogenesis of spondyloarthritis and the role of JAK inhibition

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2021. Epub ahead of print. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keab740.

JAK inhibitors are likely to become an important part of the overall treatment paradigm for spondyloarthritis (SpA).Although not fully understood, the pathogenesis of SpA is complex and thought to involve both environmental and genetic factors that together elicit a chronic inflammatory response involving the innate and adaptive immune systems. Several different cytokines, TNF, IL-17A, IL-12/23 and IL-23, which are directly/indirectly affected by JAK molecules, are involved in the pathogenesis o...
Analysis of data over 56 weeks shows that efficacy responses are maintained with upadacitinib 15 mg and 30 mg.Following the publication of 12-week data from the Phase III, randomised double-blind, SELECT-PsA 1 study, earlier this year, McInnes, et al. now report the 56-week efficacy and safety data of upadacitinib 15 mg and 30 mg in patients with PsA and an inadequate response to non-biological therapyEfficacy responses and inhibition of radiographic progression were maintained with upadacitinib...

May 2021

Upadacitinib efficacy proves to be greater than placebo, and non-inferior to adalimumab, in treating patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Already approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, McInnes, et al. studied oral upadacitinib at a dose of 15 mg or 30 mg, alongside placebo or adalimumab, in this 24-week, Phase III trial, in over 1700 patients with PsA. At the primary endpoint (Week 12), ACR20 response was greater with upadacitinib than placebo, and non-inferior to adalimumab; wi...

April 2021

Filgotinib, a Novel JAK1-Preferential Inhibitor for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis: An Overview from Clinical Trials

Mod Rheumatol. 2021 Mar 19:1-26. Epub ahead of print. DOI 10.1080/14397595.2021.1902617

Filgotinib is the latest JAKinib to enter the international market for the treatment of RA, receiving regulatory approval in Japan and Europe late last year. In this review paper, Tanaka Y et al. examine the clinical evidence supporting its use as a later-line treatment, in accordance with international RA management guidelines, and provide their expert opinions on JAKinibs from a clinical perspective.The core clinical programme evaluating filgotinib in patients with moderately-to-severely activ...

July 2020

This SLR informed the 2019 EULAR taskforce updating recommendations for RA management. Overall, no new safety signals were reported. The known safety profile of bDMARDs was confirmed and extended to tsDMARDS. IL-6i associated lower intestinal perforation has been further confirmed, while VTE and PE concerns in JAKi treatment need further evaluation.Previous updates for the EULAR recommendations on RA pharmacological management were conducted in 2016. In this SLR safety of csDMARDs, tsDMARDs, and...

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February 2020

The EULAR recommendations for the management of RA have become increasingly useful in providing rheumatologists, patients, payers and other stakeholders with the evidence-based guidance and views of experts on the optimal use and sequence of pharmaceutical therapies in patients with RA. Over the course of the last decade, the evolution of the treatment landscape has already required two updates. The release of the new addition updates the 2016 recommendations.An international task force consider...

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