December 2022

EULAR recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis with synthetic and biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs: 2022 update

Ann Rheum Dis. 2022. Epub ahead of print [05/12/2022] doi: 10.1136/ard-2022-223356

Smolen, et al. provide a 2022 update of the EULAR recommendations for the management of RA with synthetic and biological DMARDs.

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Efficacy of synthetic and biological DMARDs: a systematic literature review informing the 2022 update of the EULAR recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis

Ann Rheum Dis. 2022. Epub ahead of print. doi: 10.1136/ard-2022-223365

Kerschbaumer, et al. provide results of a systematic literature review (SLR) on efficacy of synthetic and biological DMARDs, to inform the 2022 update of the EULAR recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis.

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September 2022

Infections in patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving tofacitinib versus tumour necrosis factor inhibitors: results from the open-label, randomised controlled ORAL Surveillance trial

doi: 10.1136/ard-2022-222405

Post hoc analysis, using the final dataset from ORAL Surveillance, reveals a higher risk of non-serious infections and herpes zoster with tofacitinib vs TNFi, and higher risk of serious infection events with tofacitinib 10 mg BID versus TNFi, particularly in patients aged ≥65 years.

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January 2022

Pain Reduction in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Who Use Opioids: A Post Hoc Analysis of Phase 3 Trials of Baricitinib

ACR Open Rheumatol. 2021. Epub ahead of print. doi: 10.1002/acr2.11380

This post hoc analysis shows that pain reduction was similar between opioid users and nonusers with baricitinib 2 mg and 4 mg, but not adalimumab.Use of opioids to treat RA-related pain has increased, yet long-term use has been associated with reduced efficacy and safety concerns. In addition, the misuse of opioids has resulted in a public health crisis in the United States and highlights the need for safe, effective nonaddictive alternatives for pain management. As such, Pope, et al. assessed p...

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Cytokine Signalling Forum: Single slide summaries – January 2022

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Upadacitinib as monotherapy or in combination with background MTX was effective in inhibiting the progression of structural joint damage through Week 48 in MTX-naïve and MTX‐inadequate responder patients with RA.Recently approved in many countries for the treatment of RA, upadacitinib has been shown to significantly reduce the progression of structural joint damage in two Phase 3 studies (SELECT-EARLY and SELECT-COMPARE). In this analysis, Peterfy, et al. evaluated the progression of structural ...

Points to Consider for the Treatment of Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases With Janus Kinase Inhibitors: A Consensus Statement

2021 Jan;80(1):71-87. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-218398. Epub 2020 Nov 6.

JAKi are approved in various immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. With five JAKi now licensed, this paper reviews key points to consider in their use to assist clinicians, patients, and other stakeholders once the decision is made to commence JAKi.The consensus was developed by a Steering Committee and an expanded Task Force using EULAR standard operating procedures. The committee included patients as well as experts in rheumatology, gastroenterology, haematology, dermatology, and infectious d...

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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 2018

Efficacy of Monotherapy with Biologics and JAK inhibitors for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Review

ADV Ther 2018; 35(10):1525–63 DOI: 10.1007/s12325-018-0757-2

The b/tsDMARDs evaluated in this systematic literature review (SLR) were shown to be efficacious as monotherapies, although combination therapies usually achieved better treatment outcomes.Current treatment guidelines recommend combining b/tsDMARDs with MTX in the treatment of RA; however, up to a third of patients are treated with monotherapy. While previous SLRs1–3 have compared the efficacy of b/tsDMARD mono- versus MTX combination therapy they covered a limited number of randomised controlle...

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January 2018

Two-year Efficacy and Safety of Subcutaneous Tocilizumab in Combination with Disease-modifying Antirheumatic Drugs Including Escalation to Weekly Dosing in Rheumatoid Arthritis

J Rheumatol 2018 Apr; 45(4):456-464

This 2-year Phase 3 study, proved that subcutaneous tocilizumab (TC-SC) has long-term efficacy and an acceptable safety profile. Patients enrolled had been previously diagnosed with RA with an inadequate response to DMARDs. Patients were randomised 2:1 to receive doses of TCZ-SC (n=437) or PBO (n=219) every other week for 6 months. After this time, all patients received TCZ-SC. Escape therapy, defined as weekly TCZ-SC, was available to patients from Month 3. Efficacy was analysed using ACR respo...