Tofacitinib can benefit people with rheumatoid arthritis who have not responded to DMARDs

People with rheumatoid arthritis who have not responded to existing biological therapies could benefit from treatment with tofacitinib instead, says an international study in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
Data was taken from phase II and phase III studies of tofacitinib in people with rheumatoid arthritis. Most of the participants had not used biological therapy before (2,812) and others were resistant to biological therapy (705).

The participants were given 5mg or 10mg of tofacitinib twice daily, or a pretend drug, either alone or alongside methotrexate or other synthetic DMARDs.

Improvements in efficacy after three months were generally greater for both tofacitinib doses compared to the pretend drug. Clinical response rates were numerically greater with people who hadn’t had biological therapy before compared to those who were resistant.

Rates of safety events were generally similar between tofacitinib doses and subpopulations. But people receiving glucocorticoids had more serious adverse events and were more likely to discontinue the therapy.

“Tofacitinib demonstrated efficacy in both groups of rheumatoid arthritis patients,” the research group says. “Clinical response to tofacitinib was generally numerically greater in biological therapy-naive than biological therapy-resistant patients. The safety profile appeared similar between subpopulations.”

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Image credit: Lisa Redfern