December 2020

Switching between Janus kinase inhibitor upadacitinib and adalimumab following insufficient response: efficacy and safety in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Ann Rheum Dis 2020; doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-21841220

Both ACR and EULAR recommend adding a biologic or targeted synthetic DMARD in patients who do not achieve treatment goals at follow-up. Findings indicated that an immediate switch in mechanism of action (from JAKi to TNFi and vice versa) following treat-to-target principles is feasible with minimal risk of flare regardless of whether patients are switched due to non-response or incomplete-response.SELECT-COMPARE followed treat-to-target principles to examine the efficacy of switching in two pati...

Keywords:

November 2020

Age-Based (<65 vs ≥65 years) Incidence of Infections and Serious Infections with Tofacitinib Versus Biological DMARDs in Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Trials and the US Corrona RA Registry

Ann Rheum Dis 2020; DOI: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-218992

Reports from clinical trials and the US Corrona RA registry showed that serious infection event (SIE) incidence was higher in older versus younger patients with RA receiving 10 mg BID of TOF and ADA, however, SIE risk was similar between age groups with TOF 5 mg BID and ADA.Data were collected from Phase II–IV tofacitinib studies, and the US Corrona RA registry. The clinical data set evaluated patients receiving TOF 5 and 10 mg BID versus TNFi (ADA/ETN) in RA patients aged ≥50 years. The EMA rec...

Keywords:

September 2020

Incidence of venous and arterial thromboembolic events reported in the tofacitinib rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis development programmes and from real-world data

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 05 August 2020 2020 Nov;79(11):1400-1413. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2019-216761. Epub 2020 Aug 5.

Concerns surrounding increased rates of PE and cardiovascular associated deaths has led to black box warnings when prescribing JAK inhibitors. As such, ongoing investigations regarding cardiovascular and VTE event risks in JAK inhibitor therapies, both clinical and real-world, are vital. Mease and colleagues consider data from clinical tofacitinib development programmes, and the ongoing real-data study A3921133. Conclusions from data analysis state that those with pre-existing cardiovascular and...

Keywords:

Infections in Baricitinib Clinical Trials for Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, May 2020

Baricitinib, an oral selective JAK1 and JAK2 inhibitor,8 demonstrated significant clinical efficacy in phase 3 RA trials. Pooled data from these trials, including a long-term extension (LTE), inform the safety profile for baricitinib, mainly to evaluate the incidence of infection in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA), with a focus on serious infection, tuberculosis (TB), herpes zoster (HZ) and opportunistic infection (OI). The data collected were from eight double-blind randomised tr...

Keywords:

Incidence Rates of Interstitial Lung Disease Events in Tofacitinib-Treated Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, Aug 2020 doi: 10.1097/RHU.0000000000001552.

This study highlights the importance of accounting for known risk factors of RA-ILD in clinical practice. Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is an extra-articular manifestation of RA. The post-hoc investigated incidence rates of ILD in patients with RA, receiving tofacitinib 5 or 10 mg twice daily, and identified potential risk factors for ILD. This post-hoc analysis comprised a pooled analysis of patients receiving tofacitinib 5 or 10 mg twice daily or placebo from 21 Phase 1-4, and 2 long-term ex...

Keywords:

August 2020

Efficacy and Safety of Long-Term Baricitinib With and Without Methotrexate for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis: Experience With Baricitinib Monotherapy Continuation or After Switching From Methotrexate Monotherapy or Baricitinib Plus Methotrexate.

Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) 2020;72(8):1112-1121

This 24-week update from the baricitinib RA-BEYOND LTE study follows patients previously treated in the pivotal study RA-BEGIN. It demonstrates the maintained safety and efficacy of baricitinib monotherapy, and the effects of concurrent MTX treatment on response rates and patient reported outcomes. Previous P3 study RA-BEGIN demonstrated the superior efficacy of 4mg baricitinib compared to MTX monotherapy up to 52 weeks, with no major safety events being identified. At the end of the trial, pati...

Keywords:

July 2020

Safety of synthetic and biological DMARDs: a systematic literature review informing the 2019 update of the EULAR recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2020;79:760-770

This SLR informed the 2019 EULAR taskforce updating recommendations for RA management. Overall, no new safety signals were reported. The known safety profile of bDMARDs was confirmed and extended to tsDMARDS. IL-6i associated lower intestinal perforation has been further confirmed, while VTE and PE concerns in JAKi treatment need further evaluation.Previous updates for the EULAR recommendations on RA pharmacological management were conducted in 2016. In this SLR safety of csDMARDs, tsDMARDs, and...

Keywords:

Pharmacological Treatment of Psoriatic Arthritis: A Systematic Literature Research for the 2019 Update of the EULAR Recommendations for the Management of Psoriatic Arthritis

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2020;79:778-786

This SLR reviewed data on pharmacological treatment of PsA. Findings informed the 2019 EULAR taskforce when updating recommendations for PsA management. Overall, no new safety signals were reported. Encouragingly, LTEs of JAKi did not report any venous thromboembolic events or PEs. Efficacy was demonstrated for a range of bDMARD and tsDMARD therapies in various disease domains. Efficacy varied between PsA manifestations and between therapies. Observational data demonstrated efficacy when switchi...

Keywords:

Safety and Efficacy of Tofacitinib in Patients with Active Psoriatic Arthritis: Interim Analysis of OPAL Balance, an Open-Label, Long-Term Extension Study

Rheumatol Ther 2020 doi.org/10.1007/s40744-020-00209-4

This 3-year, open-label, LTE study follows PsA patients previously treated in pivotal studies OPAL Broaden and OPAL Beyond. It demonstrates maintained safety and efficacy of tofacitinib up to 36 and 30 months, respectively. No new safety concerns are highlighted. Previous P3 studies, OPAL Broaden and OPAL Beyond, demonstrated safety and efficacy of 5mg and 10mg tofacitinib BID in PsA. These patients rolled over to OPAL Balance for a period of 36 months. 686 participants were used in this interim...

Keywords:

June 2020

Comparative effectiveness of antitumour necrosis factor agents, biologics with an alternative mode of action and tofacitinib in an observational cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis in Switzerland

RMD Open 2020;6:e001174 doi:10.1136/rmdopen-2020-001174

This nested cohort study found that, in Switzerland, there was a generally limited overall drug maintenance for b/tsDMARD options in RA. Using data from SCQM-RA – a prospective longitudinal registry, overall maintenance (drug survival) was calculated for TNFi, bDMARD-OMA or JAKi in patients with RA.After adjusting for potential confounding factors, there was a higher hazard of drug discontinuation with TNFi compared with tofacitinib; no significant difference was observed between non-TNF bDMARDs...

Keywords: