Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with baricitinib inhibits radiographic joint damage says study

Results from a new study, presented at the EULAR Annual Congress, has found that treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with baricitinib inhibited progressive radiographic joint damage compared with placebo.

For the study, researchers at the Leiden University Medical Centre, in the Netherlands, randomly assigned patients in the 24-week RA-BUILD study to placebo, 2 mg baricitinib or 4 mg baricitinib once a day.

Patients who entered the RA-BEYOND study continued the baricitinib dose received at the end of the RA-BUILD study, with patients receiving placebo at the end of RA-BUILD switching to 4 mg baricitinib. The researchers evaluated structural joint damage and results showed patients receiving baricitinib 2 mg or 4 mg experienced statistically significant lower progression, bone erosion and joint space narrowing vs. placebo at 24 and 48 weeks.

“Together with the improvement of clinical and quality of life symptoms, which are so important for rheumatoid arthritis patients, a key goal of treatment is to restrict the structural damage rheumatoid arthritis causes to joints, a hallmark of the disease,” says Dr Désirée van der Heijde, PhD, of Leiden University Medical Centre. “These findings have shown us that, for people with rheumatoid arthritis, baricitinib may, if approved, offer an oral option which could help them restrict joint damage over an extended period of time.”

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