Golimumab performs well in ankylosing spondylitis trial

Intravenous golimumab, a biological drug, worked well during a one-year study in people with ankylosing spondylitis – and no new safety concerns were encountered – a team highlights in the Journal of Rheumatology.

The research group randomly selected 105 people with active ankylosing spondylitis to be treated with 2mg per kg of intravenous golimumab. They were compared with 103 people with active ankylosing spondylitis who were given a placebo to begin with and were then switched to golimumab part-way through the study.

Over 73% of people in the first golimumab group had improved symptoms after the first few treatments, compared with 26% of those in the placebo group. After a year, 70% of people treated with golimumab for the entire study had reduced disease activity scores, 25% had partial remission and 26% had inactive disease. People who switched from placebo to golimumab had good results too. But over half of the volunteers experienced one or more adverse events during the study.

The team concludes:

“The totality of the results of the GO-ALIVE study demonstrated that treatment with IV [golimumab] 2 mg/kg at weeks 0, 4 and every 8 weeks thereafter was effective in reducing the signs and symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis among adult patients with active disease despite treatment with NSAID, with sustained response through one year.”

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