Golimumab: A Review in Inflammatory Arthritis

Advances in biologic and small molecule therapies for hidradenitis suppurativa

INTRODUCTION

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, debilitating inflammatory skin disorder characterized by painful nodules, abscesses, fistulae, and scarring with a predilection for flexural regions. Several biologics and small molecule inhibitors are being evaluated in clinical trials for treatment.

AREAS COVERED

The authors discuss the data available from clinical trials and smaller, high-quality studies for existing and emerging biologic and small molecule inhibitor therapies for treatment of HS. Biologics discussed include TNFα, IL-17, IL-23, IL-12/23, and IL-1 inhibitors. Small molecule inhibitors discussed include PDE4, JAK, TYK, IFX-1, and complement cascade inhibitors. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics for these drugs are also described.

EXPERT OPINION

Trial data and our own experience have shown that about half of HS patients experience improvement with adalimumab. However, there is a significant need for pharmacotherapies with higher efficacy goals as in those used for psoriasis. Many biologics and small molecule inhibitors are being tested in clinical trials. The landscape of upcoming therapies for hidradenitis suppurativa appears promising.

Repurposing haloperidol for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: an integrative approach using data mining techniques

Introduction

Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has advanced with the introduction of biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. However, more than 20% of patients with RA still have moderate or severe disease activity. Hence, novel antirheumatic drugs are required. Recently, drug repurposing, a process of identifying new indications for existing drugs, has received great attention. Furthermore, a few reports have shown that antipsychotics are capable of affecting several cytokines that are also modulated by existing antirheumatic drugs. Therefore, we investigated the association between antipsychotics and RA by data mining using real-world data and bioinformatics databases.

Methods

Disproportionality and sequence symmetry analyses were employed to identify the associations between the investigational drugs and RA using the US Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (2004-2016) and JMDC administrative claims database (January 2005-April 2017; JMDC Inc., Tokyo, Japan), respectively. The reporting odds ratio (ROR) and information component (IC) were used in the disproportionality analysis to indicate a signal. The adjusted sequence ratio (SR) was used in the sequence symmetry analysis to indicate a signal. The bioinformatics analysis suite, BaseSpace Correlation Engine (Illumina, CA, USA) was employed to explore the molecular mechanisms associated with the potential candidates identified by the drug-repurposing approach.

Results

A potential inverse association between the antipsychotic haloperidol and RA, which exhibited significant inverse signals with ROR, IC, and adjusted SR, was found. Furthermore, the results suggested that haloperidol may exert antirheumatic effects by modulating various signaling pathways, including cytokine and chemokine signaling, major histocompatibility complex class-II antigen presentation, and Toll-like receptor cascade pathways.

Conclusion

Our drug-repurposing approach using data mining techniques identified haloperidol as a potential antirheumatic drug candidate.

Antibody-Based Therapeutics for Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular Diseases

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, and its prevalence is increasing due to the aging of societies. Atherosclerosis, a type of chronic inflammatory disease that occurs in arteries, is considered to be the main cause of cardiovascular diseases such as ischemic heart disease or stroke. In addition, the inflammatory response caused by atherosclerosis confers a significant effect on chronic inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis and rheumatic arthritis. Here, we review the mechanism of action of the main causes of atherosclerosis such as plasma LDL level and inflammation; furthermore, we review the recent findings on the preclinical and clinical effects of antibodies that reduce the LDL level and those that neutralize the cytokines involved in inflammation. The apolipoprotein B autoantibody and anti-PCSK9 antibody reduced the level of LDL and plaques in animal studies, but failed to significantly reduce carotid inflammation plaques in clinical trials. The monoclonal antibodies against PCSK9 (alirocumab, evolocumab), which are used as a treatment for hyperlipidemia, lowered cholesterol levels and the incidence of cardiovascular diseases. Antibodies that neutralize inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17, and IL-12/23) have shown promising but contradictory results and thus warrant further research.

Post-approval Safety Surveillance Study of Golimumab in the Treatment of Rheumatic Disease Using a United States Healthcare Claims Database

Background and Objective

Golimumab is a fully human anti-tumor necrosis factor monoclonal antibody approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS). This study estimated rates of prespecified outcomes in patients with RA, PsA or AS initiating golimumab versus matched patients initiating non-biologic systemic (NBS) medications.

Methods

Patients enrolled in a US health plan with rheumatic disease who initiated a study medication were accrued between April 2009 and November 2014. Golimumab initiators were matched by propensity score to NBS initiators in a 1:4 ratio. Outcomes were identified through September 2015. As-treated, as-matched, and nested case–control (NCC) analyses were conducted in the matched cohorts. Sensitivity analyses evaluated the impact of residual confounding and nondifferential misclassification of exposure and outcomes.

Results

Risks of outcomes were similar between golimumab and NBS initiators. In the as-treated analysis, the rate ratio (RR) for depression was elevated during current golimumab use versus golimumab non-use in the NBS cohort [RR 1.45, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.31–1.61]. This finding was not replicated in as-matched (RR 1.08, 95% CI 0.97–1.19) or NCC (odds ratio 1.01, 95% CI 0.78–1.31) analyses, which focused on incident cases. Sensitivity analyses suggest that depression was sensitive to misclassification, and the RR changed from greater than to less than one across a plausible range of specificity.

Conclusions

This study suggests that there is no association between exposure to golimumab and an increased risk of prespecified outcomes. Increased depression risk in the as-treated analysis was not replicated in other analyses and may be associated with residual imbalance in baseline history or severity of depression.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1007/s40261-020-00959-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Golimumab for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Since the advent of infliximab for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), new genetically-engineered molecules have appeared. This review aims to present the current data and body of evidence for golimumab (GLM). Safety, efficacy, tolerability and immunogenicity are all being investigated, not only through phase III trials (GO-BEFORE, GO-FORWARD, GO-AFTER, GO-MORE, GO-FURTHER, GO-NICE), but also through studies of real-world data. It seems that GLM in the subcutaneous form is an efficacious molecule with a good safety profile at the standard dosage scheme, but a 100 mg subcutaneous dose is associated with a higher risk of opportunistic infections, lymphoma and demyelination. Furthermore, when compared to other tumor necrosis factor-α molecules, it is non-inferior, and, at some points, such as when it comes to immunogenicity and persistence of the drug, it has a better profile. In summary, GLM is an effective, well-tolerated option for the treatment of RA, for both the clinician and patients who are seeking a convenient dosage scheme.

Patient-reported outcomes with golimumab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis: non-interventional study GO-NICE in Germany

The TNF inhibitor golimumab (GLM) is a treatment option in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS). The GO-NICE study assessed patient-reported outcomes (PRO) in patients newly treated with monthly GLM 50 mg subcutaneously (SC) under real-life conditions in Germany. A prospective non-interventional study with 24-month observation per patient was conducted at 158 sites. Available for analysis were 1,458 patients, 474 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA: 54.9 ± 13.4 years, 72.8% females, 60.4% biologic-naïve), 501 with psoriatic arthritis (PsA: 50.5 ± 12.1 years, 54.1% females; 47.5% biologic-naïve), and 483 with ankylosing spondylitis (AS: 43.6 ± 12.3 years, 66.5% males; 58.4% biologic-naïve). A total of 664 patients completed follow-up to month 24. An improvement of QoL by EuroQoL EQ-5D-3L was seen after 6 months and was maintained over 24 months. The patients’ health state today (EQ visual analog scale) improved statistically significantly (p < 0.0001 vs. BL) from 51.0 at baseline (BL) to 63.4 (RA), from 48.4 to 64.3 (PsA) and from 46.8 to 66.5 (AS). Functional ability (FFbH) improved significantly (p < 0.003 vs. BL) from BL 68.2 to 76.1 points (RA), from 69.0 to 76.8 points (PsA), and from 69.0 to 78.5 points (AS). The mean FACIT-Fatigue score increased significantly (p < 0.0001 vs. BL) from BL 32.4 to 38.3 points (RA), from 30.0 to 35.9 points (PsA), and from 29.9 to 37.9 points after 24 months (AS); p < 0.0001 vs. BL each. On treatment with GLM SC once monthly, significant improvements in patient-reported QoL parameters were noted in a very similar manner in all three diseases.

Trial registration ClinTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01313858. Registered March 14, 2011; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT01313858.