May 2021

Trial of Upadacitinib and Adalimumab for Psoriatic Arthritis

N Engl J Med. 2021;384(13):1227-1239.

Upadacitinib efficacy proves to be greater than placebo, and non-inferior to adalimumab, in treating patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Already approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, McInnes, et al. studied oral upadacitinib at a dose of 15 mg or 30 mg, alongside placebo or adalimumab, in this 24-week, Phase III trial, in over 1700 patients with PsA. At the primary endpoint (Week 12), ACR20 response was greater with upadacitinib than placebo, and non-inferior to adalimumab; wi...

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April 2021

JAK selectivity and the implications for clinical inhibition of pharmacodynamic cytokine signalling by filgotinib, upadacitinib, tofacitinib and baricitinib

Ann Rheum Dis. 2021 Mar 19:annrheumdis-2020-219012. Epub ahead of print. DOI: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-219012

The first study to combine in vitro inhibition of cytokine responses in whole blood with clinical pharmacokinetics of individual JAKinibs to model daily cytokine-mediated pharmacodynamic profiles in healthy individuals and patients with RA, has demonstrated that JAKinib potencies depended on cytokine stimulus, pSTAT readout and cell type.Traves and colleagues have observed that JAKinibs have unique, differential effects on specific cytokine signalling pathways, dependent on cytokine stimulus, ST...

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March 2021

Upadacitinib in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Benefit–Risk Assessment Across a Phase III Program

Drug Saf. 2021 Feb 2. DOI: 10.1007/s40264-020-01036-w

Upadacitinib 15 mg has a favourable benefit–risk profile according to an assessment of data from the phase III SELECT clinical trial programme.In this review of data for the once-daily, oral JAK inhibitor, Conaghan PG, et al. provided insights into the benefit–risk profile of upadacitinib in approximately 4400 patients with RA. Based on pooled data from five pivotal studies, benefits and risks were assessed up to the time of regulatory submission, and additional long-term integrated safety revie...

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February 2021

Upadacitinib Monotherapy Versus Methotrexate Monotherapy in Methotrexate-naïve Japanese Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Sub-analysis of The Phase 3 SELECT-EARLY study

Mod Rheumatol 2021;26:1–16.

In this sub-analysis of the Phase 3 SELECT-EARLY study, UPA demonstrated clinical efficacy superior to placebo in the Japanese subpopulation. Along with a favourable efficacy observed with the Japan-specific 7.5 mg dose of UPA for all secondary endpoints. SELECT-EARLY was designed to study the safety and efficacy of UPA 15 and 30mg as monotherapy, but it also included a subset of 138 Japanese patients, 40% of whom were randomised to receive UPA 7.5mg. This was designed to meet the requirements o...

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January 2021

Upadacitinib for psoriatic arthritis refractory to biologics: SELECT-PsA 2

Annals of the rheumatic diseases. 2021 Mar 1;80(3):312-20.

In this trial of patients with active PsA who had inadequate response or intolerance to at least one biologic DMARD, upadacitinib 15 mg and 30 mg was more effective than placebo over 24 weeks in improving signs and symptoms of PsA. Despite the availability of bDMARDs in PsA, only a small proportion of patients achieve the recommended target of minimal disease activity; as such, additional treatment options are needed. Upadacitinib is under evaluation for PsA. This paper reports the 24-week data ...

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December 2020

Highlights of 2020

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

2020 unfolded apace, dominated by COVID-19 - we have all had to adapt in our practice and in our knowledge base. Amid this there have continued to be a constant flow of publications and science in cytokine signaling, and as in previous years as we come the end of 2020, I will highlight some of the notable papers of the year. You can find the most notable papers, as selected by CSF Steering Committee Chair Professor Iain McInnes, with links to their respective detailed summaries below:

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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...

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November 2020

Safety Profile of Upadacitinib in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Integrated Analysis from the SELECT Phase III Clinical Programme

Ann Rheum Dis 2020 DOI:10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-218510

This integrated Phase III safety analysis of UPA showed that UPA had a similar profile to ADA and MTX for serious infections, malignancies, and thromboembolic events. Patients receiving UPA had increased risk of HZ and creatine phosphokinase elevation versus ADA.This integrated Phase III safety analysis of UPA examined >3500 RA patients and 4000 patient-years of exposure. Data were pooled from 3834 patients in SELECT-NEXT, SELECT-BEYOND, SELECT-MONOTHERAPY, SELECT-COMPARE and SELECT-EARLY studie...

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Trial of UPA or Abatacept in Rheumatoid Arthritis

N Engl J Med 2020;383:1511–21 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2008250

In patients with refractory RA to bDMARDs, upadacitinib was found to be superior to abatacept in DAS28-CRP change from baseline and the achievement of remission at week 12.612 bDMARD-IR patients were randomised 1:1 to UPA 15 mg QD or ABA, each in combination with stable synthetic DMARDs. At Week 12, patients with <20% decrease in TJC and Swollen joint count (SJC) had background medication adjusted or added. All patients completing Week 24 were eligible to remain in an open-label, long-term exten...

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August 2020

Efficacy and Safety of Upadacitinib Monotherapy in Methotrexate-naïve Patients with Moderately to Severely Active Rheumatoid Arthritis (SELECT-EARLY): A Randomized, Double-blind, Active-comparator, Multi-center, Multi-country Trial

Arthritis Rheumatol 2020

Upadacitinib monotherapy demonstrated superior clinical, radiographic, and patient-reported outcomes versus methotrexate in methotrexate-naïve RA patients.This 48-week double-blind active comparator study investigated upadacitinib monotherapy in patients with early RA, who were either methotrexate-naïve, or who had very limited exposure. 947 patients were randomised to once-daily upadacitinib 15 or 30 mg, or weekly methotrexate. Unusually, there were two separate primary endpoints, selected for ...

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