Healio
Healio
April 30, 2014
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Rheumatologists chose ACR50, ACR70 over ACR20 as endpoints when prescribing psoriatic arthritis drugs

Surveyed US and European rheumatologists chose American College of Rheumatology 50 and 70 response rates as more persuasive end points than ACR20 when prescribing a new drug for psoriatic arthritis patients, according to results from Decision Resources Group.

“In line with the responses of surveyed rheumatologists, interviewed experts consider the ACR50 and ACR70 response rates to be more meaningful measures of how a drug will perform in clinical practice than the ACR20 response rate, despite the fact that the ACR20 facilitates indirect comparisons among therapies owing to its longstanding use in pivotal trials,” Laura Croal, PhD, Decision Resources Group analyst, said in a press release.

The highest percentage of rheumatologists chose ACR 50/70 at 24 weeks when asked to select the top three most persuasive endpoints when prescribing a new drug for patients with psoriatic arthritis.

The report from Decision Resources Group also found that the clinical profiles of adalimumab (Humira, AbbVie/Eisai) and certolizumab pegol (Cimzia, UCB/Astellas Pharma) are undifferentiated from each other and “are the strongest among key marketed products to treat psoriatic arthritis.”

Other findings included:

  • Surveyed rheumatologists would prescribe apremilast (Otezla, Celgene) to 10% of patients with psoriatic arthritis being treated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs if it were priced at a 35% discount to etanercept (Enbrel, Amgen/Pfizer/Takeda Pharmaceutical).

“Although one-fifth of surveyed US rheumatologists who would prescribe apremilast indicated they would use it in place of methotrexate, actual practice will likely be tempered by the significant price premium apremilast holds over generically available methotrexate,” Croal said.

  • Among the greatest unmet needs in patients with psoriatic arthritis are “therapies with a greater ability to reduce the signs and symptoms of axial disease,” surveyed rheumatologists and managed care organization pharmacy directors reported.