Rheumatoid Arthritis In Real Clinical Practice Research Articles

Drug survival and the associated predictors in South Korean patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving tacrolimus.

Background/AimsTo investigate the drug survival rate of tacrolimus (TAC) and analyze the potential predictors of this rate in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in routine care.Methods2018-01-16In this retrospective longitudinal study, we enrolled 102 RA patients treated with TAC from April 2009 to January 2014 at a tertiary center in South Korea. The causes of TAC discontinuation were classified as lack of efficacy (LOE), adverse events (AEs), and others. The drug survival rate was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and the predictors of this rate were identified by Cox-regression analyses.ResultsTAC was discontinued in 27 of 102 RA patients (26.5%). The overall 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-year TAC continuation rates were 81.8%, 78.4%, 74.2%, and 69.1%, respectively and the median follow-up period from the start of TAC was 32.5 months. The number of TAC discontinuations due to LOE, AEs, and others were 15 (55.6%), 11 (40.7 %), and 1 (3.7%), respectively. The baseline high disease activity was a significant risk factor for TAC discontinuation after adjusting for confounding factors (hazard ratio [HR], 2.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16 to 5.35; p = 0.019). In addition, underlying interstitial lung disease was significantly associated with TAC withdrawal due to AEs (HR, 3.49; 95% CI, 1.06 to 11.46; p = 0.039).ConclusionsIn our study, TAC showed a good overall survival rate in patients with RA in real clinical practice. This suggests that the long-term TAC therapy has a favorable efficacy and safety profile for treating RA.

Efficacy and safety of Tofacitinib in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis resistant to conventional therapy: Preliminary results of an open-label clinical trial

Despite the advances in the therapy of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which are associated with the use of biological anti-rheumatic drugs, the problem of effective treatment of RA is not still solved. Inclusion of new methods in treatment strategies, in particular the so-called «small mole cules», i.e. synthetic compounds acting on intracellular signaling pathways, such as Tofacitinib (TOFA) approved for use in rheumatologic practice, is very important. Objective: to evaluate the efficacy and safety of therapy with TOFA in combination with synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (s-DMARDs), primarily methotrexate (MTX) in in patients with active RA in real clinical practice. Subjects and methods . This ongoing open-label trial is a part of the scientific program «Russian Investigation of Methotrexate and Biologics in Early Active Inflammatory Arthritis» (REMARCA) that explores the possibility of adapting the «treat-to-target» strategy in real prac-tice in Russia. The study included RA patients with moderate to high disease activity despite treatment with MTX or other DMARDs. A total of 41 patients with RA were included (8 males, 33 females; mean age 52.6±14.2 years, disease duration 47.2±49.7 months, 82.9% RF+ and 80.5% anti-CCP+,DAS28-ESR 5.45±0.95, SDAI 30.2±12.2). All the patients had previously received s-DMARDs; 12 (29.3%) patients also had biological DMARDs (1 to 4 biologics). Oral TOFA 5 mg in combination with MTX or leflunomide was administered twice daily to 40 and 1 patients, respectively, with the possibility of increasing the dose up to 10 mg BID. To date, 37 and 12 patients received TOFA for 3 and 6 months, respectively. Results. TOFA was used as a second-line drug (after s-DMARDs failure) in 29 (70.7%), as a third line drug (after s-DMARDs and biologics failure) in 12 (29.3%) patients. The dose was escalated to 10 mg BID in 13 (31.2%) patients, on the average, 11.2±1.7 weeks after treatment initiation. TOFA was not discontinued in the reporting period. There was a significant reduction in disease activity following just 4 weeks of TOFA therapy. At 3 months, 27% of patients achieved low disease activity (LDA) by the SDAI; 29.7% had SDAI remission; 35% had HAQ ≤0.5; at 6 months, LDA, SDAI remission, had HAQ ≤0.5 were seen in 41.7, 41.7, and 67%, respectively. There were no significant differences in the suppression of RA activity depending on whether second- or third-line TOFA therapy was performed. There were no serious adverse events (SAEs) or serious infections. Conclusions . Second- and third-line TOFA therapy allows the majority of patients to quickly achieve the T2T goals (56.7 and 83.4% of patients at 3 and 6 months, respectively), so the drug can be quite successfully «integrated» into the T2T strategy along with biologics. The drug effectively inhibits granulomatous inflammation (by the example of rheumatoid nodules) and shows a sufficient safety (no SAEs).

Infliximab in Russian clinical practice

The study of infliximab began (INF) in Russia in 2001. It was the first genetically engineered biological agent (GEBA) registered in our country to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). With the advent of infliximab, a Russian biological rheumatoid arthritis therapy registry started its work. In October 2005, it was set up on the basis of GEBA centers founded in the leading rheumatology clinics of Russia. Objective: to generalize the Russian experience in using INF (its efficacy, tolerance, and side effects) in patients with RA in real clinical practice within the framework of a multicenter observational study. Subjects and methods. The register included patients with a valid diagnosis of RA in whom INF treatment was first started. The main indication for this was previous basic therapy failure. This investigation analyzed 396 patients receiving INF therapy. Prior to INF administration, all the patients were examined to identify whether they had possible latent tuberculosis, by applying chest X-ray study and Mantoux test. The European League Against Rheumatism criteria were used to evaluate the efficiency of INF therapy. The relationship between the therapeutic effects of the drug and its cumulative dose was specially used. The trend in X-ray progression was estimated using the Sharp method modified by van der Heijde. INF was given in a dose of 3 mg/kg by the classical regimen: at 0, 2, and 6 weeks, then every 8 weeks. The main assessment periods were at 22 and 46—54 weeks. Results. Analysis of the data of real clinical practice in Russia demonstrates that the use of INF in RA patients with the inadequate effect of traditional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) is able to cause a rapid and pronounced reduction in disease activity. There is significant evidence that the IFN-treated patients with RA had also suppressed bone destruction. INF treatment for early RA gives rise to remissions more frequently in the early stage of therapy than that for extensive-stage disease. INF was shown to have a clear dose-dependent effect: in the patients receiving more than 4 infusions of the drug, bone destruction was more noticeably suppressed than in those having its fewer infusions. In most cases, suppressed destruction was accompanied by clinical improvement. A significant therapeutic effect was seen when both an annual course of INF and average (5—7 infusions per year) doses of the drug were used. The results of the analysis suggest that the probable efficiency of INF therapy increases in RF-negative patients with lower baseline RA activity and fewer HAQ scores. INF was quiet satisfactorily tolerated and caused no unusual side effects. Conclusion. The Russian experience in using INF strongly suggests that it is effective in real practice in severe RA resistant to therapy with traditional DMARDs.

Russian registry of Infliximab.Impact of therapy on the functional status of patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Система комплексной поддержки и сопровождения научного журнала Elpub позволяет запустить двуязычный сайт журнала со встроенной системой электронной редакции в соответствии с лучшими издательскими практиками, а так же предусматривает техническую и методическую поддержку со стороны специалистов НЭИКОН.

RESULTS OF A CROSS-SECTIONAL EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY DETERMINING THE NEEDS FOR GENETIC ENGINEERINGBIOLOGICALS FOR THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS IN REAL CLINICAL PRACTICE IN RUSSIA(IRACL)COMMUNICATION 2. DETERMINATION OF NEEDS FOR GENETIC ENGINEERING BIOLOGICALS

Система комплексной поддержки и сопровождения научного журнала Elpub позволяет запустить двуязычный сайт журнала со встроенной системой электронной редакции в соответствии с лучшими издательскими практиками, а так же предусматривает техническую и методическую поддержку со стороны специалистов НЭИКОН.

Clinical efficacy of tocilizumab in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis in real clinical practice

The previous clinical studies have demonstrated tocilizumab monotherapy to be highly effective in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The objectives of the present article are to report the efficacy and safety of tocilizumab in patients with active RA in real clinical practice. In total, 61 patients with RA were treated with tocilizumab. Any comorbidities they had, especially infections, were treated thoroughly before they were given the drug. We provided guidance on infection control and prevention. Mean age of the patients was 60.9 ± 12.4 years, and their mean disease duration 10.9 ± 9.2 years. The patients remained on steroids, methotrexate, and tacrolimus as before, but were taken off any other drugs they had been using prior to the treatment. Mean of the 28-joint disease activity score using erythrocyte sedimentation rate was 4.75 ± 1.15 initially and fell to 2.21 ± 0.97 after two doses (n = 50). After four doses, the remission rate was 83.8% (31/37). All patients responded well to the therapy and there was no decrease in the efficacy of tocilizumab during the treatment. Even in the real clinical setting, treatment with tocilizumab can rapidly induce remission in RA in a high proportion of patients and is generally safe and well tolerated. Tocilizumab would seem to be promising as a first-line choice for the treatment of RA.