December 2018

Professor Iain McInnes Reviews the Most Notable Papers from 2018

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

2018 brought a wealth of new data in cytokine signalling and IL-6 that helps inform current clinical practice and brings the promise of new options in the future. There was good data on the use of sub cutaneous tocilizumab as well as strategies in early RA and for methotrexate tapering. For the currently marketed JAK inhibitors, tofacitinib and baricitinib, continuous long-term efficacy and safety data further support its current use and applications. On the development side, the outcomes of the...

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September 2018

Structural Damage Progression in Patients with Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated with Methotrexate, Baricitinib, or Baricitinib plus Methotrexate Based on Clinical Response in the Phase 3 RA-BEGIN Study

Clinical Rheumatology 2018;37:2381–90 DOI 10.1007/s10067-018-4221-0

Patients with active RA and little or no prior DMARD treatment, who achieved sustained clinical responses, were less likely to show structural damage progression, irrespective of treatment.RA-BEGIN was a 52-week double-blind, multicentre Phase 3 trial, which assessed the safety and efficacy of BARI as monotherapy or in combination with MTX versus MTX monotherapy, in RA patients with no or limited prior DMARDs use.1-4 This post-hoc analysis evaluated the structural damage progression in patients ...

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August 2018

Efficacy and safety of risankizumab in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis (UltiMMa-1 and UltiMMa-2): Results from two double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled and ustekinumab-controlled Phase 3 trials

Lancet. 2018;392:650–61. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31713-6

Here, the authors reported risankizumab to be both efficacious when compared to both placebo and ustekinumab in the treatment of moderate to severe plaque PsO. This publication aimed to describe two Phase 3 replicate studies, UltiMMa-1 and UltiMMa-2, which assessed the efficacy and safety of risankizumab compared with placebo or ustekinumab in patients with moderate-to-severe chronic plaque PsO.

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July 2018

Safety and Efficacy of Upadacitinib in Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis Refractory To Biologic Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (SELECT-BEYOND): a Double-Blind, Randomised Controlled Phase 3 Trial

Lancet 2018;391:2513–24

Upadacitinib (UPA) extended release formulation was effective in treating patients with moderate-to-severe RA with an inadequate response to bDMARDs.Phase 2 study data has shown that UPA is an efficacious and safe treatment for active RA.1,2 SELECT-BEYOND was a double-blind, long-term extension, Phase 3 study to assess the efficacy of UPA in patients with RA who were bDMARD-IR. The first 12-weeks of SELECT-BEYOND were placebo-controlled, with a double-blind period followed by an ongoing double-b...

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Safety and Efficacy of Upadacitinib in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Inadequate Response to Conventional Synthetic Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (SELECT-NEXT): a Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase 3 Trial

Lancet 2018;391:2503–12

Patients with moderate-to-severe active RA had significant improvements in clinical signs and symptoms with upadacitinib (UPA) compared with placebo.In Phase 2 studies, UPA showed favourable efficacy when administered twice daily as an immediate-release formulation at doses of 6–12 mg in patients with active RA who had TNFi-IR.1,2 An extended-release formulation allowing once-daily (QD) administration was developed for Phase 3 studies. SELECT-NEXT was a double-blind, multicentre, Phase 3 study t...

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May 2018

Pharmacokinetics of Upadacitinib with Clinical Regimens of the Extended-Release Formulation Utilized in Rheumatoid Arthritis Phase 3 Trials

Clin Pharmacol Drug Dev. 2019 Feb;8(2):208-216. doi: 10.1002/cpdd.462

Upadacitinib (UPA) extended release (ER) formulation dosing achieved the target profile that enables single dosing in patients with RA. In early clinical studies, UPA was given as an immediate release (IR) formulation, however patients were noted to experience fluctuations in blood plasma concentrations. To enhance patient compliance in UPA Phase 3 trials, ER tablets have been developed. Here, authors aimed at characterising the pharmacokinetics of UPA single and multiple doses of ER compared wi...

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Evaluation of Disease Activity in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated with Tofacitinib by RAPID3: Post Hoc Analyses from Two Phase 3 Trials

Clin Rheumatol 2018 Aug; 37(8):2043–53

Patients given tofacitinib (TOF) who achieved Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3 (RAPID3) remission or low disease activity (LDA) at 6 months, had improved long-term outcomes at 2 years, compared to patients with moderate or high disease activity (MDA/HDA) at 6 months.RAPID3¹ is a patient-reported evaluation of disease activity, based on pooled PROs; patient global assessment, patient assessment of arthritic pain and HAQ-DI scores. Previous studies with tocilizumab have suggested that RA...

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April 2018

Effect of Filgotinib, a Selective JAK1 Inhibitor, with or without Methotrexate in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Patient-Reported Outcomes

Arthritis Res Ther 2018; 20(1):57 doi: 10.1186/s13075-018-1541-z

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) from two, Phase 2b, filgotinib (FIL) studies, DARWIN 1 and 2, revealed that patients receiving FIL had improved and sustained PRO responses compared with placebo. With suboptimal RA treatment, patients lose joint functional ability, which heavily influences patient quality of life. The previously reported data from the DARWIN studies, concluded that patients given FIL achieved clinically relevant dose-dependent improvements compared with patients given placebo¹,²...

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November 2017

Tofacitinib for Psoriatic Arthritis in Patients with an Inadequate Response to TNF Inhibitors

N Engl J Med 2017;377:1525–36.

The study data presented that tofacitinib (TOF) improves efficacy response rates in patients with severe psoriatic arthritis (PsA) who have an inadequate response to TNF inhibitors.The Phase 3 Oral Psoriatic Arthritis Trial (OPAL) Beyond study evaluated patients with active PsA who had inadequate responses to more than one TNFi. Patients were randomised 2:2:1:1 to 5 mg TOF BID or 10 mg TOF BID for 6 months; or PBO, with a switch to 5 mg TOF BID or to 10 mg BID at 3 months.Primary endpoints were ...

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March 2017

Efficacy and Safety of Tofacitinib in Older and Younger Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Clin Exp Rheumatol 2017 Jan 4

In this analysis of patients with moderate to severe RA treated with tofacitinib (TOF) in Phase 3 and long-term extension (LTE) studies, patients aged 65 years had similar efficacy and a numerically higher risk of SAEs and discontinuations due to AEs compared with younger patients.The Phase 3 population included patients from five trials (n=3111) of TOF 5 mg or 10 mg BID or placebo. The LTE population (n=4102) included patients from two studies who had participated in Phase 1, 2 or 3 TOF studie...

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