Continued treatment with tocilizumab more likely in RA patients who failed TNF inhibitors

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis who failed to respond to treatment with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors were more likely to continue treatment with tocilizumab, an interleukin-6 inhibitor, after 4 years, according to research presented at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting.

Data from the Rhumadata database were collected for 259 patients. Patients were included in the analysis if they did not respond to treatment with a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor. Demographics and baseline disease characteristics, such as disease duration, the presence of anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies, rheumatoid factor and other data, were collected. Patients were categorized into one of four cohorts based on the time tocilizumab or a subsequent anti-TNF agent was introduced.

Patients were treated with tocilizumab (20%), adalimumab (37%), etanercept (33%) or infliximab (10%). No clinically significant differences were present across the groups at baseline, according to the researchers.

After 4 years, 44.3% of patients treated with tocilizumab were retained in the treatment group compared with 27.2% of patients taking adalimumab, 37.1% of those taking etanercept and 34% of those being treated with infliximab as a second-line biologic therapy.

According to Kaplan-Meier survival analysis results, significant differences were found in the drug retention rates between the four cohorts. – by Shirley Pulawski

Reference:

Choquette D, et al. Paper #502. Presented at: American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting. Nov. 14-19, 2014; Boston.

Disclosure: Choquette has no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.