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Etanercept suppressed signs of Graves’ ophthalmopathy in trial
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Etanercept, a drug used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, may be beneficial in the treatment of Graves’ ophthalmopathy, a study suggests.
Willem A. van den Bosch, MD, and colleagues from the Rotterdam Eye Hospital treated 10 consecutive patients with recent-onset, active, mildly to moderately severe Graves’ ophthalmopathy using the anti-tumor-necrosis-factor drug. Patients received subcutaneous injections of 25 mg of etanercept twice weekly for 12 weeks. Mean patient age was 50 years at baseline, and average duration of Graves’ ophthalmopathy was 4 months.
After treatment, 60% of patients reported moderate to marked improvement. No serious adverse events or side effects were reported during a mean 18 months of follow-up.
“This study strongly suggests that etanercept may suppress the clinical signs of Graves’ opthalmopathy, but randomized controlled trials are needed to further evaluate the effect of antitumor necrosis factor treatment and to compare its side effects with those of corticosteroids,” the authors said.
The study is published in the November issue of Eye.