Guselkumab improves work productivity, overall health over 2 years in psoriatic arthritis
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Key takeaways:
- Improvements to work productivity, daily life and overall health with guselkumab in active PsA were sustained over 2 years.
- Treatment was estimated to yield “substantial cost savings,” researches said.
Patients with active psoriatic arthritis who receive guselkumab demonstrate reduced work impairment, improved overall health and “substantial cost savings” through 2 years, according to data published in Rheumatology and Therapy.
The researchers, who analyzed data from the phase 3 DISCOVER-2 trial, additionally found that employment rates increased among guselkumab-treated patients who were not employed at baseline.
“In DISCOVER-2, patients receiving guselkumab, regardless of dosing regimen, reported reduced work productivity loss and nonwork daily activity impairment, as well as improved general health status through 1 year,” Jeffrey R. Curtis, MD, MS, MPH, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and colleagues wrote. “Understanding the durability of the effects of guselkumab on these outcomes is important for patients with PsA and their health care providers.”
To examine the impacts of guselkumab (Tremfya, Janssen) on work productivity, nonwork impairment and general heath in patients with PsA through 2 years, Curtis and colleagues conducted a post hoc analysis of the DISCOVER-2 trial. In that trial, patients were randomly assigned to receive either subcutaneous injections of 100 mg of guselkumab every 4 weeks; a similar regimen that later draws down to every 8 weeks after 4 weeks of treatment; or placebo.
The study used least-square (LS) mean changes from baseline to measure employment status, work productivity and nonwork daily activity impairment using the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire for PsA (WPAI-PsA). Patient-reported general health status was assessed using the Euro-Qol 5-Dimension 5-Level (EQ-5D-5L) and EQ-Visual Analog Scale (EQ-VAS).
Among the 739 patients enrolled in DISCOVER-2, 652 completed 2 years of guselkumab treatment. At week 100, both guselkumab treatment groups demonstrated continued LS mean reductions to work productivity impairment and nonwork daily activity impairment, according to the researchers. Improvements to general health, measured via EQ-5D-5L/EQ-VAS, were also maintained at week 100.
Meanwhile, among patients not employed at baseline, 20% of those treated every 4 weeks, and 25.3% of those treated every 8 weeks, were employed at week 100. Average wage data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development were used to estimate “potential indirect savings from improved overall work productivity,” ranging from $16,529 to $19,409, the researchers wrote.
The study’s limitations include the fact that most DISCOVER-2 participants were white, limiting its generalizability. In addition, there was no information on specific job responsibilities or work environments. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic occurred during the trial, possibly affecting the assessments of work productivity and employment.
“Among patients with active PsA who were biologic-naïve, these post hoc analyses demonstrated that both guselkumab dosing regimens led to meaningful improvements in work productivity, nonwork daily activity impairment, and general health status, and these outcomes were sustained through 2 years,” Curtis and colleagues wrote. “Furthermore, rates of employment increased in patients treated with guselkumab who were not employed at baseline and observed improvements in work productivity were estimated to result in substantial yearly indirect work productivity-related cost savings.”
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