February 21
Combe B, Kivitz A, Tanaka Y, van der Heijde D, Simon JA, Baraf HSB, Kumar U, Matzkies F, Bartok B, Ye L, Guo Y, Tasset C, Sundy JS, Jahreis A, Genovese MC, Mozaffarian M, Landewé RBM, Bae S-C, Keystone EC, Nash P.
Ann Rheum Dis. 2021 Jan 27:annrheumdis-2020-219214
Filgotinib improved RA signs and symptoms, physical function, and inhibited radiographic progression. FIL 200mg plus MTX, but not FIL 100mg plus MTX showed non-inferiority to ADA plus MTX, based on DAS28(CRP) low disease activity. FIL was also well tolerated in RA patients with inadequate response to MTX. This 52-week, phase 3 randomised clinical trial (FINCH 1) evaluated the efficacy and safety of FIL in patients with RA randomised to FIL 200 or 100mg, ADA 40mg, or placebo, all with background...
Keywords: JAK, Filgotinib, Clinical, Efficacy
July 20
Nash P, Coates LC, Kivitz AJ, Mease PJ, Gladman DD, Covarrubias-Cobos JA, FitzGerald O, Fleishaker D, Wang C, Wu J, Hsu M, Menon S, Fallon L, Romero AB, Kanik KS.
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 inter...
Keywords: JAK, Tofacitinib, Safety
January 19
Kivitz AJ, Cohen S, Keystone E, van Vollenhoven RF, Haraoui B, Kaine J, Fan H, Connell CA, Bananis E, Takiya L, Fleischmann R.
Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2018 Dec;48(3):406-415. doi: 10.1016/j.semarthrit.2018.07.006.
In this pooled analysis of Phase 3 Tofacitinib (TOF) trials, safety profiles were generally similar between patients receiving monotherapy and combination therapy. Although selected adverse events of interest showed lower incidence rates (IRs) for TOF monotherapy patients. TOF has been studied as monotherapy and in combination with csDMARDs. In this post-hoc analysis, data were pooled from six Phase 3 TOF studies in RA patients to further examine the safety profile when used as monotherapy or i...
Keywords: JAK, Tofacitinib, Clinical, Safety
July 18
Burmester GR, Kremer JM, Van den Bosch F, Kivitz A, Bessette L, Li Y, Zhou Y, Othman AA, Pangan AL, Camp HS.
Lancet 2018;391:2503–12
Patients with moderate-to-severe active RA had significant improvements in clinical signs and symptoms with upadacitinib (UPA) compared with placebo. In Phase 2 studies, UPA showed favourable efficacy when administered twice daily as an immediate-release formulation at doses of 6–12 mg in patients with active RA who had TNFi-IR.1,2 An extended-release formulation allowing once-daily (QD) administration was developed for Phase 3 studies. SELECT-NEXT was a double-blind, multicentre, Phase 3...
Keywords: JAK, Upadacitinib, Clinical, Phase 3
June 18
Strand V, Kavanaugh A, Kivitz AJ, van der Heijde D, Kwok K, Akylbekova E, Soonasra A, Snyder M, Connell C, Bananis E, Smolen JS.
Rheumatol Ther. 2018 Dec;5(2):341-353. doi: 10.1007/s40744-018-0113-7
Tofacitinib (TOF) therapy reduced the progression of structural joint damage at 2 years, in patients of all disease states, compared with patients given methotrexate (MTX). Early intervention with DMARDs aim to prevent the development of future RA symptoms and inhibit the progression of structural damage to the joints. This post-hoc analysis uses data from two Phase 3 TOF studies, to examine the efficacy of early intervention with TOF on long-term radiographic outcomes and disease activity sta...
Keywords: JAK, Tofacitinib, Clinical, Radiographic
January 18
Kivitz A, Olech E, Borofsky MA, Zazueta B, Navarro-Sarabia F, Radominski SC, Merrill JT, Pacheco-Tena C, Pei J, Nasmyth-Miller, Pope JE.
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 resp...
Keywords: IL-6, Tocilizumab, Clinical, Phase 3
July 17
Fleischmann R, Mysler E, Hall S, Kivitz A, Moots R, Luo Z, DeMasi R, Soma K, Zhang R, Takiya L, Tatulych S, Mojcik C, Krishnaswami S, Menon S, Smolen J, on behalf of the ORAL Strategy investigators.
Lancet. 2017 Jul 29;390(10093):457-468. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31618-5
In this first head-to-head non-inferiority trial assessing a JAKi ± MTX directly compared with a TNFi + MTX in patients with RA, tofacitinib (TOF) + MTX showed non-inferiority to adalimumab (ADA) + MTX. Non-inferiority was not shown for TOF monotherapy versus TOF + MTX, or versus ADA + MTX. In this 52-week study, MTX-inadequate responder (IR) patients were randomised 1:1:1 to receive TOF 5 mg BID monotherapy, TOF 5 mg BID + MTX or ADA 40 mg every other week + MTX. The primary endpoint, A...
Keywords: JAK, Tofacitinib, Clinical, Efficacy
February 17
Genovese MC, Greenwald M, Codding C, Zubrzycka-Sienkiewicz A, Kivitz AJ, Wang A, Shay K, Wang X, Garg JP, Cardiel MH.
Arthritis Rheumatol DOI 10.1002/art.40054. Accepted article.
In this Phase 2b study in patients with moderate to severe RA, once-daily peficitinib in combination with limited csDMARDs reduced the symptoms of RA, demonstrated a dose-dependent ACR20 response rate over 12 weeks, and showed acceptable tolerability. This 12-week study included patients who had an inadequate response or intolerance to csDMARDs (N=289). Patients were randomised 1:1:1:1:1 to peficitinib 25-, 50-, 100, 150 mg or matching placebo. Statistically significant differences in the AC...
Keywords: JAK, Peficitinib, Clinical, Phase 2
December 16
Kivitz AJ, Gutierrez-Ureña SR, Poiley J, Genovese MC, Kristy R, Shay K, Wang X, Garg JP, Zubrzycka-Sienkiewicz A.
Arthritis & Rheum 2016; ePub ahead of print
This Phase 2b study of peficitinib (ASP015K), an orally administered once-daily JAK inhibitor, plus MTX, demonstrated efficacy across multiple secondary endpoints with higher peficitinib doses. Peficitinib in combination with MTX was well tolerated with a safety profile that was consistent with previous studies. A high placebo response rate was seen in both Latin and North America, when patient data were stratified. This high placebo rate is problematic for the accurate interpretation of pefic...
Keywords: JAK, Peficitinib, Clinical, Phase 2
May 15
Kremer JM, Kivitz AJ, Simon-Campos JA, Nasonov EL, Tony HP, Lee SK, Vlahos B, Hammond C, Bukowski J, Li H, Schulman SL, Raber S, Zuckerman A, Isaacs JD.
Arthritis Res Ther. 2015 Apr 6;17(1):95.
Mean increases from baseline in patient serum creatinine (SCr) levels have been observed in the clinical development programme for the JAK inhibitor tofacitinib. These increases predominantly occurred within the first three months, and reversed with tofacitinib withdrawal. This phase 1, randomised, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, 2-period study assessed changes in measured glomerular filtration rate (mGFR) with tofacitinib, relative to placebo, in 148 patients with active RA. Results sh...
Keywords: JAK, Tofacitinib, Preclinical, MOA
April 15
Genovese MC, Fleischmann R, Kivitz A et al.
Arthritis Rheumatol. Vol. 67, No. 6, June 2015, pp 1424–1437
Biologic DMARDs targeting TNF-alpha, IL-1, T-cell co-stimulatory blockade, B-cell depletion, and IL-6R, as well as the newer JAK inhibitors have greatly improved clinical outcomes in RA. However, not all patients respond to current biologic or small molecule DMARDs. Sarilumab is a fully human anti-IL-6Rα mAb that binds membrane-bound and soluble human IL-6R with high affinity, blocking cis and trans IL-6-mediated signalling. This study (MOBILITY) is the first randomised, double-blind,...
March 15
Fleischmann RM, Damjanov NS, Kivitz AJ, et al.
Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015;67(2):334–343.
Decernotinib (VX-509; Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated) is a JAK 3 inhibitor currently under investigation for its potential use in the treatment of RA. The potency and selectivity profiles of this oral compound have already been established in previous trials, so this study aimed to establish the efficacy and safety profiles of the drug, in RA patients who have had an inadequate response to at least one DMARD. Four doses; 25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg and 150 mg, were evaluated in this placebo-contr...
Keywords: JAK, Decernotinib, Clinical, Phase 2