June 2020

Safety Profile of Baricitinib For the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis Over a Median of 3 Years of Treatment: An Updated Integrated Safety Analysis

Lancet Rheumatol 2020;2:e347–57

RA is a chronic, life-long disease requiring long-term treatment. As such, it is important to understand the long-term safety profile of DMARDs. In this analysis, baricitinib maintained a stable safety profile during long-term exposure. This baricitinib safety analysis included integrated data from nine Phase 3, 2, and 1b clinical trials, and one long-term extension, with data up to 360 weeks. 3700 patients were included, with maximum follow-up of almost 7 years – representing an additional 3,54...

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Baricitinib In Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis With Inadequate Response to Methotrexate: Results From A Phase 3 Study

Clin Exp Rheumatol . Jul-Aug 2020;38(4):732-741. Epub 2020 May 20.

This study conducted mainly in Chinese patients with RA, and an inadequate response to MTX, showed that baricitinib 4mg was associated with significant improvements and consistent with the findings from previous clinical trials.The efficacy and safety of baricitinib have been assessed in several clinical trials, predominantly in Caucasian populations. However, evidence on the efficacy and safety of baricitinib in Chinese patients is limited, with only one of the main clinical trial program studi...

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May 2020

Evaluation of Hepatitis B Virus in Clinical Trials of Baricitinib in Rheumatoid Arthritis

RMD Open 2020;6:e001095

Although hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation was seen in patients with RA treated with DMARDs, including BARI, who had serology suggestive of prior infection, reactivation was transient even with continued BARI treatment and did not account for any clinically relevant AEs.Reactivation of HBV replication is a recognised complication in patients receiving biologic agents for RA, such as DMARDs. Limited data exist on prevalence of occult infection and the incidence of reactivation in RA patients t...

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April 2020

Relative Efficacy and Safety of Tofacitinib, Baricitinib, Upadacitinib, and Filgotinib in Comparison to Adalimumab in Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis

Z Rheumatol. 2020 DOI: 10.1007/s00393-020-00750-1

This Bayesian network meta-analysis, comparing the relative efficacy and safety of JAK inhibitors, determined BARI 4mg + MTX and UPA 15mg + MTX were the most effective. The analysis included 5451 patients with an inadequate response to MTX and active RA, from four RCTs. Relative effects were converted into a probability allowing each treatment to be ranked. BARI and UPA had significantly higher ACR20 response rates than ADA 40mg + MTX whilst TOF 5mg and FIL 200mg had comparable ACR20 response ra...

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March 2020

Baricitinib Exposure During Pregnancy in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Ther Adv Musculoskelet Dis. 2020;12:1759720X19899296

Broad and focused studies are required to have an insight of safety for small molecules, such as JAK inhibitors in the case of accidental exposure before or during pregnancy.This case study’s objective describes a case report of a 43-year-old woman affected by RA who became pregnant during BARI treatment. She has had two previous pregnancies at term without complications. After failure of bDMARDs due to loss of efficacy and adverse drug reactions, the patient was started on BARI when it became a...

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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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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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October 2019

Effect of Baricitinib and Adalimumab in Reducing Pain and Improving Function in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis in Low Disease Activity: Exploratory Analyses from RA-BEAM

J Clin Med. 2019 Sep 5;8(9). pii: E1394

Post hoc analyses from RA-BEAM concluded that BARI 4 mg QD or ADA 40 mg Q2W resulted in improvements in pain, physical function, fatigue and work productivity in patients with RA, independent of the treatment’s impact on inflammation. Among patients achieving remission or LDA, greater improvements in pain and physical function were seen with BARI than with ADA or PBO.Of 1010 patients included in the analysis at Week 24, 168 were in remission, 310 were in remission/LDA and 700 were not in remissi...

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September 2019

Comparison of Baricitinib, Upadacitinib, and Tofacitinib Mediated Regulation of Cytokine Signalling in Human Leukocyte Subpopulations

Arthritis Res Ther. 2019 Aug 2;21(1):183

Different JAKinibs modulated distinct cytokine pathways to varying degrees, and no agent potently or continuously inhibited an individual cytokine signalling pathway throughout the dosing interval. This study aimed to compare the in vitro cellular pharmacology of BARI, TOF and UPA across relevant leukocyte subpopulations, coupled with their in vivo PK, to determine their effects on distinct cytokine pathways. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors were incubated with different JA...

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July 2019

Clinical Outcomes in Patients Switched from Adalimumab to Baricitinib Due to Non-Response and/or Study Design: Phase III Data in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Ann Rheum Dis. 2019 Jul;78(7):890-898.

Switching from ADA to BARI without a lengthy washout period can be executed with acceptable safety and tolerability and was associated with maintained disease control. Switching therapies in RA is commonplace in myriad scenarios including inadequate responses, intolerances and patient preference. Assessing the safety and efficacy of new treatments such as BARI, in the context of use as a replacement therapy, is beneficial. A previous study (RA-BEACON) has demonstrated that safely switching from ...

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