In this post hoc analysis, six Phase 3 studies were used to analyse the effect of glucocorticoids (GC) on the efficacy of tofacitinib (TOF) in patients with RA. Concomitant use of GC did not affect the clinical or radiographic outcomes of patients treated with TOF. Data from all six clinical trials were evaluated, with four studies (ORAL Scan, ORAL Standard, ORAL Sync and ORAL Step) being pooled for analysis. In these studies, MTX was used as a comparison and patients were required to maintain a...

Successful Treatment of Arthritis Induced by Checkpoint Inhibitors with Tocilizumab: a Case Series

Ann Rheum Dis 2017;76:2061-64. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2017-211560

This case series evaluated the use of tocilizumab (TCZ) as an effective treatment for patients who develop arthritis as an adverse event (AE) of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) cancer treatment. Results suggested that TCZ was an effective treatment, as it reduced the arthritis disease progression.ICIs have been defined as a revolutionary treatment for metastatic melanomas; however, a common AE is the development of polyarthritis. Current arthritis treatments reduce the efficiency of ICI therap...

October 2017

This post hoc analysis of 2 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) AMBITION and ADACTA found that tocilizumab monotherapy results in substantial and clinically meaningful improvements in patient-reported outcomes (PROs) over 24 weeks.PROs assessed included patient global assessment (PtGA), pain, HAQ-DI, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT-F) and Short-Form-36 (SF-36) physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) and eight domain scores.Tocilizumab (TCZ) mon...
RA-BEGIN was a Phase 3, double-blind randomised active comparator-controlled study to evaluate baricitinib as monotherapy or in combination with MTX in patients with active RA who were naïve to csDMARDS and bDMARDS. In this analysis of the RA-BEGIN study, baricitinib alone or with MTX when used as initial therapy resulted in significant improvements in most patient-reported outcome measures compared with MTX. At baseline, study participants had active RA, impaired physical function, moderate le...

September 2017

This paper describes the patient-reported outcome (PRO) data collected in RA-BEAM, a Phase 3 study of baricitinib compared with both placebo and adalimumab in patients with RA and an inadequate response to MTX.PRO measures evaluated include health-related quality of life (HRQOL), physical function, disability, fatigue, sleep, mental health status, work productivity and work activity impairment. The RA-BEAM study demonstrated that patients treated with baricitinib experienced a greater improveme...

April 2017

Evidence is presented that treatment with sarilumab demonstrates patient-reported benefits in TNF-IR patients with moderate to severe RA. These improvements complement the clinical efficacy previously reported for sarilumab, and are consistent with those seen in the MOBILITY trial (MTX-IR patients)1, yet in a more difficult-to-treat population.Data were analysed from the 24-week Phase 3 TARGET randomised controlled trial in adult patients with active RA and previous inadequate response or intole...