Publications
View and download slide summaries of the latest original articles focusing on cytokine signalling therapies within rheumatoid arthritis. All materials produced by the CSF team are subsequently reviewed and approved by individual Steering Committee members.
May 2022
The Impact of Tofacitinib on Fatigue, Sleep, and Health‑Related Quality of Life in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Post Hoc Analysis of Data from Phase 3 Trials
Arthritis Res Ther. 2022;24(1):83 doi:10.1186/s13075-022-02724-x
This was an exploratory post hoc analysis of pooled data, from over 2000 patients in three Phase 3 studies of tofacitinib, which demonstrates an association between tofacitinib treatment and significantly greater improvements in fatigue, sleep, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), compared with placebo.
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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...
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...
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 ...
July 2020
Safety of synthetic and biological DMARDs: a systematic literature review informing the 2019 update of the EULAR recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2020;79:760-770
This SLR informed the 2019 EULAR taskforce updating recommendations for RA management. Overall, no new safety signals were reported. The known safety profile of bDMARDs was confirmed and extended to tsDMARDS. IL-6i associated lower intestinal perforation has been further confirmed, while VTE and PE concerns in JAKi treatment need further evaluation.Previous updates for the EULAR recommendations on RA pharmacological management were conducted in 2016. In this SLR safety of csDMARDs, tsDMARDs, and...
January 2019
A Pooled analysis of the Safety of Tofacitinib as Monotherapy or in Combination with Background Conventional Synthetic Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs in a Phase 3 Rheumatoid Arthritis Population
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 in ...
December 2018
Evaluation of the Short-, Mid-, and Long-term Effects of Tofacitinib on Lymphocytes in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis
Arthritis Rheumatol 2018 DOI: 10. 1002/art.40780
Tofacitinib (TOF) treatment is associated with short-term transient increases in absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC), followed by a gradual decline to reach steady state by ~48 months. Changes in both ALC and lymphocyte subset counts (LSC) were reversible upon TOF discontinuation. Low ALC but not LSC were associated with an increased risk of serious infective episodes (SIEs) and herpes zoster (HZ). This data supported the treatment recommendations on ALC counts for starting and continuing therapy w...
November 2018
Safety and Efficacy of Baricitinib in Patients Receiving Conventional Synthetic Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs or Corticosteroids
Rheumatol Ther 2018 Dec;5(2):525-536. DOI 10.1007/s40744-018-0128-0
Baricitinib (BARI) in combination with MTX and concomitant csDMARDs was shown to be efficacious, regardless of corticosteroid use in RA patients. MTX is prescribed to most RA patients but concomitant csDMARDs and/or corticosteroids can be added. This study assessed the efficacy and safety of BARI in two arms; with/without corticosteroids and; with MTX only/MTX plus csDMARD/csDMARDs only. Baseline characteristics and adverse reactions were also compared. Data were pooled from two phase 3 studies ...
May 2018
Tofacitinib in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Lack of Early Change in Disease Activity Predicts a Low Probability of Achieving Low Disease Activity at Month 6
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) 2019 Jan;71(1):71-79. DOI: 10.1002/acr.23585
This post-hoc analysis of two, Phase 3 studies, ORAL Start and ORAL Standard shows that early treatment response can predict long-term disease activity outcomes. EULAR recommendations suggest that treat-to-target strategies require regular target assessments with treatment approaches changed if targets are not reached at 6 months. To optimize this strategy, therapy outcomes should be known, and the relationship between short and long-term outcomes defined. The current analysis focused on the dis...
October 2017
Patient-reported Outcomes of Baricitinib in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and No or Limited Prior Disease-modifying Antirheumatic Drug Treatment
Arthritis Res Ther. 2017 Sep 18;19(1):208
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...