Patients with axial spondyloarthritis may improve with certolizumab pegol

Patients with axial spondyloarthritis, including those with ankylosing spondylitis and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis, showed improved workplace and household productivity along with improvements in social participation after 96 weeks of Cimzia administration, according to study data.

Researchers reviewed data from the ongoing, double-blind, placebo-controlled RAPID-axSpA trial, a 204-week phase 3 trial in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). Patients were blinded to dosage through week 48, and to week 204 in the open-label phase.

Désirée van der Heijde

Patients who had been randomly assigned to receive 200 mg or 400 mg Cimzia (certolizumab pegol, UCB) every 2 or 4 weeks, respectively, after an initial loading dose of 400 mg at weeks 0, 2 or 4 remained on the same dosage during the open-label extension of the study. Patients who had originally received placebo upon entering the dose-blind phase were re-randomized to receive a certolizumab pegol loading dose followed by 200 mg every 2 weeks or 400 mg every 4 weeks after week 24, or after week 16 for non-responders.

The researchers administered the Work Productivity Survey every 4 weeks to assess the impact of disease activity on workplace and household productivity.

Of the 218 patients randomly assigned to certolizumab pegol at baseline, 93% completed treatment at week 24, 88% completed at week 48 and 80% completed at week 96.

At baseline, 72% of the participants were employed outside of the home. Employed patients in both certolizumab pegol dosage groups reported reductions in workplace absenteeism to week 24, with continued improvements through week 96, according to the researchers.

Household productivity and social participation were also improved in patients in the certolizumab pegol treatment group through 96 weeks. – by Shirley Pulawski

Van der Heijde D, et al. Paper #2560. Presented at: American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting. Nov. 14-19, 2014; Boston.

Disclosure: Van der Heidje is affiliated with AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Augurex, BMS, Celgene, Centocor, Chugai, Covagen, Daiichi, Eli-Lilly, Galapagos, GSK, Janssen Biologics, Merck, Novartis, Novo-Nordisk, Otsuka, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Schering-Plough, UCB and Vertex. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.