Large, population-based, real-world cohort of study in patients with RA finds tofacitinib not to be associated with an increased risk of malignancies, in comparison to TNFi agents, although a numerically increased risk of malignancies was observed in older patients with risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

June 2022

Observational, nationwide cohort study finds no increased risk for cancer overall in RA patients treated with TNFis, anti-CD20 or anti-IL6.

February 2022

Cardiovascular and Cancer Risk With Tofacitinib in Rheumatoid Arthritis

N Engl J Med 2022;386:316–26. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc2202778

In this paper, Ytterberg et al. compare incidence of MACE and cancers (excluding NMSC) with tofacitinib 5 mg BID, tofacitinib 10 mg BID and TNFi. They found that risk of MACE and cancer were higher with tofacitinib versus TNFi, and did not meet noninferiority criteria.This prospective head-to-head safety trial compared tofacitinib to TNFi, and was required by the FDA after increases in lipid levels and cancers were observed during tofacitinib drug development. ...