The influence of inflammation on patient global assessment (PGA) improvements differs between baricitinib and tocilizumab differs. Adequate PGA improvement remains one of the unmet needs in current RA treatment.Asai, et al. compared the effects of baricitinib and tocilizumab on disease activity in patients with RA while investigating the influence of inflammation on PGA improvement.Using data from a multicentre registry, 48 propensity-matched pairs of patients, who had been observed for longer t...

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...
Findings from a multicentre cohort study in Japan provide important information that is expected to aid in determining the position of tofacitinib in the treatment algorithm for RA.Mori S, et al. compared therapeutic outcomes, from real-world registries, at 12 months between tofacitinib-treated and tocilizumab-treated patients to clarify whether tofacitinib should only be considered as an option for patients who have either failed to respond to at least one bDMARD or are MTX-resistant/-intoleran...
Baricitinib 4mg may be considered for long-term treatment of early and refractory rheumatoid arthritis following results demonstrating efficacy and tolerability for up to 3 years.Smolen JS, et al. analysed data from two completed 52-week, phase III studies, RA-BEGIN (DMARD-naïve) and RA-BEAM (MTX-IR), and one ongoing long-term extension study (RA-BEYOND) – providing data for 148 weeks in total. Results demonstrated that the long-term maintenance of clinically relevant treatment goals, including ...
Analysis by Wells, et al. demonstrates long-term efficacy and tolerability of baricitinib 2 mg daily for up to 120 weeks in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.Using data from two completed phase III studies, RA-BEAM (csDMARD-IR patients) and RA-BEACON (TNFi-IR patients), and one ongoing long-term extension study (RA-BEYOND), results demonstrated that the long-term maintenance of clinically relevant treatment goals, including LDA, remission and normative physical function, is achievable with bari...

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

Risk of venous thromboembolism associated with tofacitinib in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a population-based cohort study

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2021 Mar 22:keab294. Epub ahead of print. DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/keab294

A population-based cohort study of 87,653 RA patients has found no evidence for an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) for tofacitinib, versus TNFis, in patients with RA.The introduction of JAKinibs, almost a decade ago, has provided an important oral option for the treatment of RA. However, in recent years, a safety concern, relating to incidence of VTE after treatment, has emerged. Consequently, both the US and European regulatory authorities now recommend caution for use of tofacit...

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...

March 2021

Effects of One-Year Tofacitinib Therapy on Bone Metabolism in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Osteoporos Int 2021 Feb 9 DOI 10.1007/s00198-021-05871-0

Thought to be the first study of its kind, Hamar, et al. have demonstrated the effect of one-year tofacitinib treatment on bone mineral density (BMD) in RA patients. While the association between RA and osteoporosis is well known, and evidence indicates that up to 70% of these patients have reduced BMD, little information is available on how the JAK inhibitor tofacitinib affects bone status, areal and volumetric BMD, and bone turnover markers. In this prospective study, 30 patients were assessed...
Fatigue, physical function, pain, and morning joint stiffness are the most important PROs to track, according to the rheumatology patients who experience these symptoms. Increasingly used, alongside clinical measures, to track symptoms and assess disease activity over time, patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are also important indicators of quality of life and treatment effectiveness. To enable us to better understand which PROs patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease consider most imp...