February 2020

EULAR Recommendations for the Management of Rheumatoid Arthritis – 2019 Update and Consensus Statement on JAKinibs

Ann Rheum Dis. 2020 Jan 22. pii: annrheumdis-2019-216655.

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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Filgotinib, a JAK1 Inhibitor, Modulates Disease Related Biomarkers in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Results from Two Randomized, Controlled Phase 2b Trials

Rheumatol Ther. 2020 DOI: 10.1007/s40744-019-00192-5

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...

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Preferential Inhibition of JAK1 Relative to JAK3 by Upadacitinib: Exposure-Response Analyses of Ex Vivo Data From 2 Phase 1 Clinical Trials and Comparison to Tofacitinib

Pharmacodynamics. 2020

Ex vivo pharmacodynamic assay results demonstrated a greater selectivity of UPA on JAK1 versus JAK3 compared to TOF. This analysis conducted ex vivo stimulation of STAT3 phosphorylation by IL-6 as a measure of JAK1 activity and STAT5 phosphorylation by IL-7 as a measure of JAK1/JAK3 activity. Change in pSTAT3 and pSTAT5 were calculated at 1, 6 and 12 hours following drug administration using samples collected from healthy subjects and subjects with RA, from 2 phase 1 studies. Exposure-response m...

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January 2020

Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics, Target Occupancy, and QT Analysis of the Novel BTK Inhibitor Evobrutinib in Healthy Volunteers

Clin Transl Sci . 2020 Mar;13(2):325-336. doi: 10.1111/cts.12713. Epub 2019 Nov 29.

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...

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Tofacitinib in Combination with Methotrexate in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Patient-reported Outcomes from the 24-month Phase 3 ORAL Scan study

Clin Exp Rheumatol . Sep-Oct 2020;38(5):848-857. Epub 2019 Dec 19.

In the ORAL SCAN study, patients receiving TOF 5 mg or 10 mg BID reported significant improvements in patient-reported outcomes at month 3 compared with placebo, which were maintained through 24 months of treatment.RA causes a significant health and socioeconomic burden and affects all aspects of health related quality of life. ORAL Scan included patients with active RA and inadequate response to MTX who were randomised to receive TOF 5 mg or 10 mg BID plus MTX or PBO. This study evaluated the i...

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Effects of Upadacitinib on Patient-Reported Outcomes: Results from SELECT-BEYOND, a Phase 3 Randomized Trial in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Inadequate Responses to Biologic Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs

Arthritis Res Ther . 2019 Dec 2;21(1):263. doi: 10.1186/s13075-019-2059-8.

In SELECT-BEYOND, UPA demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements in patient reported outcomes compared to PBO in patients with RA who had an inadequate response to bDMARDs. In this post-hoc analysis of the SELECT-BEYOND study, the effect of UPA 15 or 30 mg on patient reported outcomes were assessed and compared to PBO.Eligible patients (498) with an inadequate response to bDMARDs were randomly assigned 1:1:1 to receive UPA 15 mg, UPA 30 mg or PBO. PROs collected at Wk1, Wk4, and Wk12 includ...

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Upadacitinib Improves Patient-Reported Outcomes in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Inadequate Response to Conventional Synthetic Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs: Results from SELECT-NEXT

Arthritis Res Ther . 2019 Dec 9;21(1):272.

In SELECT-NEXT, UPA demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements in patient reported outcomes compared to PBO in patients with RA who had an inadequate response to csDMARDs. In this post hoc analysis, the effect of UPA 15 or 30 mg on patient reported outcomes were assessed and compared to PBO.Eligible patients (661) with an inadequate response to csDMARDs were randomly assigned 2:2:1:1 to receive background csDMARD therapy with either UPA 15 mg, UPA 30 mg or PBO. PROs collected at Wk4 and Wk1...

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December 2019

Highlights of 2019

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

2019 was another remarkable year in cytokine signalling. We can be optimistic that clinical practice for inflammatory arthritis will continue to improve, with promising long-term safety data supporting the use of established JAK inhibitors; tofacitinib and baricitinib, in addition to exciting phase III clinical data for filgotinib and newly approved upadacitinib. You can find the most notable papers, as selected by CSF Steering Committee Chair Professor Iain McInnes, with links to their respecti...

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Two-Year Safety and Effectiveness of Peficitinib in Moderate-To-Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Phase IIb, Open-Label Extension Study

Rheumatol Ther . 2019 Dec;6(4):503-520. doi: 10.1007/s40744-019-00167-6. Epub 2019 Aug 13.

Peficitinib (PEF) 100 mg QD demonstrated a stable safety profile and sustained effectiveness in patients with moderate-to-severe RA in a two-year extension of two global phase IIb studies. Patients enrolled in the LTE had completed one of two 12-week phase IIb PEF trials, one with MTX and one without. The primary objective of the LTE was to assess treatment-emergent adverse events and clinical laboratory evaluations for 105 weeks. As a secondary objective, an additional 2-years of effectiveness ...

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Safety of Baricitinib in East Asian Patients With Moderate to Severe Active Rheumatoid Arthritis: An Integrated Analysis From Clinical Trials

Int J Rheum Dis . 2020 Jan;23(1):65-73. doi: 10.1111/1756-185X.13748.

Post-hoc analyses of five completed phase II and III trials and an ongoing LTE suggested that BARI QD is well tolerated in East Asian patients with moderate-to-severe RA, with a similar safety and tolerability profile to the overall population.The majority of clinical evidence for RA treatments has been obtained from a predominantly Caucasian population, which may not be relevant to East Asian patients. In this post-hoc safety analysis, 740 Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean and Chinese patients were i...

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