Van der Heijde et al., carried out a study to show whether upadacitinib offers an effective treatment option for bDMARD-naïve and bDMARD-IR patients with active AS. Their results indicated that upadacitinib 15 mg significantly improved the signs and symptoms of active AS. The treatment was well tolerated for 14 weeks in bDMARD-IR patients, consistent with results observed in the upadacitinib AS bDMARD-naïve study.

This study from Ruyssen-Witrand et al, highlights that the probability of being in drug free remission at 5-year in patients with recent onset of axSpA is low. The study was performed to investigate the possible association between demographic, clinical, biological and imaging characteristics and drug-free remission at 5 years.

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Baseline disease activity, as measured by cDAPSA, predicts the achievement of treatment targets in DMARD-naïve patients post- apremilast treatment. To come to this conclusion Mease, et al.  analysed data from the PALACE 4 clinical trial which investigated apremilast in DMARD-naïve patients. 175 patients receiving 30mg apremilast from baseline with cDAPSA data available, were analysed.

In this investigation ixekizumab showed sustained efficacy in PsA therapy for up to three years in both monotherapy and combination with MTX or a csDMARD. Here, investigators set out to evaluate the three-year efficacy and safety of ixekizumab with and without csDMARD use in patients with active PsA.

Established machine learning approaches, based on ligand similarity, identified previously unknown off-target interactions of baricitinib and tofacitinib, and adds to the evidence that these JAK inhibitors are promiscuous binders, and highlight the potential for repurposing.

Retrospective, longitudinal, population-based study shows that despite an overall higher incidence of hospitalised infection (HI) in both elderly and older elderly patients compared to young patients, the risks of HI in patients exposed to targeted therapy versus MTX is not significantly increased.

Observational study of data, from large international collective of registers, finds similar overall drug retention rates between RA treatment groups.

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.

Maksymowych et al., assessed the effects of filgotinib on inflammatory and structural changes at various spinal locations, based on MRI measures in patients with active ankylosing spondylitis in the TORTUGA trial. Correlations between changes in the inflammation score and clinical outcomes were also evaluated.

In this study Mease, et al. aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of deucravacitinib in patients with active PsA. Treatment with the selective TYK2i deucravacitinib was well tolerated and resulted in greater improvements than placebo in ACR-20 as well as Multiplicity-controlled secondary endpoints and other exploratory efficacy measures in patients.