Real-world treatment persistence of non-tumor necrosis factor inhibitors versus tumor necrosis factor inhibitors among patients with rheumatoid arthritis in South Korea

Drug Persistence and Incidence of Active Tuberculosis of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha Inhibitors Versus Tocilizumab as the First-Line Biological Treatment in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Nationwide Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Analysis

INTRODUCTION

Drug persistence may be a surrogate marker that reflects both long-term efficacy and safety in clinical settings, and tuberculosis (TB) is considered as one of the most important opportunistic infections after the biological treatment in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We aimed to compare drug persistence and incidence of TB between tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) inhibitors and tocilizumab in patients with RA using data from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database.

METHODS

In this analysis, 5449 patients with RA who started TNFα inhibitors, such as adalimumab, etanercept, infliximab, and golimumab or tocilizumab, as the first-line biological therapy between January 2014 and December 2017 were analyzed and followed up until December 2019. Drug persistence was defined as the duration from initiation to first discontinuation, and TB was defined as the prescription of > 2 anti-TB medications after the initiation of biologics.

RESULTS

TNFα inhibitors and tocilizumab were prescribed in 4202 (adalimumab, 1413; etanercept, 1100; infliximab, 769; golimumab 920) and 1247 patients with RA, respectively. During the analysis period, 2090 (49.7%) and 477 (38.3%) patients with RA discontinued TNFα inhibitors and tocilizumab, respectively, and 42 patients with RA developed TB (TNFα inhibitors, 33; tocilizumab, 9). After adjustment for confounding factors, TNFα inhibitors were significantly associated with a higher risk of discontinuation compared with tocilizumab (hazard ratio (HR) 1.63, p < 0.001). In subgroup analysis, all types of TNFα inhibitors, except for infliximab, demonstrated a significantly lower persistence rate compared with tocilizumab. There was no significant difference in TB incidence between tocilizumab and TNFα inhibitors. In subgroup analysis, infliximab has a significantly higher risk of TB compared with tocilizumab (HR 2.84, p = 0.02).

CONCLUSION

In this analysis, tocilizumab had longer persistence than TNFα inhibitors with a similar incidence of TB. Our analysis has limitations: (1) The HIRA database lacks clinical details like disease activity and joint damage extent, potentially influencing the analysis results. (2) Reasons for discontinuing biological agents were not available. (3) TB diagnoses may be inaccurate because of missing microbiological results. (4) We did not analyze the impact of treating latent TB infection on TB development post-biological treatment, despite mandatory screening in Korea.

Real-world Comparative Effectiveness of Methotrexate-based Combinations for Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Retrospective Cohort Study

PURPOSE

Guidelines recommend using disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in combination with methotrexate (MTX) for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) after monotherapy. Little is known about the real-world comparative effectiveness of these MTX-DMARD combinations. This study compared the effectiveness of various MTX-based DMARD combinations for patients with RA initiating MTX-DMARD combination therapy using administrative claims database.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study included adults (aged ≥18 years) with RA who initiated MTX combination treatment with conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARDs), tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs), non-TNFi bDMARDs, or targeted synthetic DMARDs (tsDMARDs) between July 1, 2012, and December 31, 2013 (index date), from the MarketScan Commercial Claims Data. Patients had continuous enrollment from the 6 months of preindex period until the 12 months of postindex period. The MTX-based DMARD combination therapy cohort was defined as ≥1 MTX prescription in the first 30 days from the index date and ≥14 days overlapping use of the prescription fills of the MTX and the index DMARD. Effectiveness was measured by using the claims algorithm (dosing, switching, addition, oral glucocorticoid use, or multiple glucocorticoid injection). Propensity score analysis with the inverse probability of treatment weighting (PS-IPTW), estimated by using the generalized boosted machine learning method, was used to balance the distribution of baseline variables between the combination groups. Multivariable logistic regression using PS-IPTW was conducted to compare the effectiveness of the combination groups. Sensitivity analysis evaluated the modified effectiveness algorithms or the time to the first treatment failure.

FINDINGS

A total of 3174 adult patients with RA starting an MTX-DMARD combination therapy were identified (mean [SD] age, 50 [9] years), including 1568 (49%) initiating a csDMARD + MTX, 1343 (42%) initiating TNFi + MTX, and 240 (8%) initiating non-TNFi bDMARD + MTX, and 23 (1%) initiating tsDMARD + MTX. Owing to the small sample, the tsDMARD combination group was not included in the comparative analysis. Algorithm-based therapy effectiveness was found in 9.95% of the csDMARD + MTX, 20.48% of the TNFi + MTX, and 20.83% of the non-TNFi + MTX groups. PS-IPTW showed that the csDMARD combination is less effective (adjusted odds ratio, 0.422; 95% CI, 0.341-0.524) than the TNFi combination; however, the non-TNFi biologic combination had similar effectiveness (aOR, 1.063; 95% CI, 0.680-1.662) compared to the TNFi combination. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the main results.

IMPLICATIONS

Among RA patients initiating MTX-DMARD combinations, both non-TNFi biologics and TNFi-based combinations with MTX were equally effective, but csDMARD + MTX was less effective than the TNFi plus MTX.

Summarizing current refractory disease definitions in rheumatoid arthritis and polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis: systematic review

OBJECTIVES

To identify how refractory disease (or relevant terminology variations) in RA and polyarticular JIA (polyJIA) is defined and establish the key components of such definitions.

METHODS

Searches were undertaken of English-language articles within six medical databases, including manual searching, from January 1998 to March 2020 (PROSPERO: CRD42019127142). Articles were included if they incorporated a definition of refractory disease, or non-response, in RA/polyJIA, with clear components to the description. Qualitative content analysis was undertaken to describe refractory disease in RA/polyJIA and classify each component within each definition.

RESULTS

Of 6251 studies screened, 646 met the inclusion criteria; 581 of these applied non-response criteria while 65 provided refractory disease definitions/descriptions. From the non-response studies, 39 different components included various disease activity measures, emphasizing persistent disease activity and symptoms, despite treatment with one or more biologic DMARD (bDMARD). From papers with clear definitions for refractory disease, 41 components were identified and categorized into three key themes: resistance to multiple drugs with different mechanisms of action, typically two or more bDMARDs; persistence of symptoms and disease activity; and other contributing factors. The most common term used was 'refractory' (80%), while only 16.9% reported explicitly how their definition was generated (e.g. clinical experience or statistical methods).

CONCLUSION

Refractory disease is defined as resistance to multiple drugs with different mechanisms of action by persistence of physical symptoms and high disease activity, including contributing factors. A clear unifying definition needs implementing, as the plethora of different definitions makes study comparisons and appropriate identification of patients difficult.

Outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with abatacept: a UK multi-centre observational study

BACKGROUND

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease that causes chronic synovitis, resulting in progressive joint destruction and functional disability and affects approximately 400,000 people in the UK. This real-world study aimed to describe the characteristics, treatment patterns and clinical outcomes of patients who received abatacept in UK clinical practice.

METHODS

This was a multi-centre, retrospective, observational study of patients with RA treated with abatacept at four UK centres between 01 January 2013 and 31 December 2017. Data were collected from medical records of each patient from the index date (date of first bDMARD initiation) until the most recent visit, death or end of study (31 December 2017).

RESULTS

In total, 213 patients were included in the study. Patients received up to eight lines of therapy (LOTs). Treatment with abatacept, or any other bDMARD, was associated with reductions in DAS28-ESR and DAS28-CRP scores at 6 and 12 months. The distribution of EULAR responses (good/moderate/no response) tended to be more favourable for patients when receiving abatacept than when receiving other bDMARDs (22.8%/41.3%/35.9% versus 16.6%/41.4%/42.1% at 6 months, and 27.9%/36.1%/36.1% versus 21.2%/34.5%/44.2% at 12 months). Patients receiving abatacept at LOT1 (n = 68) spent significantly longer on treatment compared with patients receiving other bDMARDs (53.4 vs. 17.4 months; p< 0.01); a similar trend was observed for LOT2. Among patients who discontinued after 6 months, a greater proportion experienced infection requiring antibiotics when receiving other bDMARDs compared to those receiving abatacept.

CONCLUSIONS

RA patients who received bDMARDs, including abatacept, experienced reduced disease activity. When receiving abatacept as first or second line of therapy, patients persisted with treatment significantly longer than those receiving other bDMARDs.

Comparison of persistence rates between allopurinol and febuxostat as first-line urate-lowering therapy in patients with gout: an 8-year retrospective cohort study

INTRODUCTION/OBJECTIVES

Lifelong urate-lowering therapy (ULT) with xanthine oxidase inhibitors (XOIs), such as allopurinol and febuxostat, is the cornerstone of gout treatment. This study aimed to compare drug persistence between allopurinol and febuxostat as first-line ULT in patients with gout in real practice.

METHOD

In this retrospective cohort study, we evaluated 602 patients with gout in whom allopurinol or febuxostat was newly initiated from December 2011 to November 2018 at a tertiary rheumatology centre. Persistence was defined as the duration from the first description date to the end of treatment with XOIs or the end of the study period (November 2019).

RESULTS

Among the 602 gout patients, the mean age was 60.2 years and 234 (38.9%) patients had tophi. Allopurinol and febuxostat were started in 237 (39.3%) and 365 (60.6%) patients, respectively. During the study period, 282 (46.8%) patients stopped taking XOIs, and the most common reason for XOI withdrawal was poor health literacy (61.3%). The 1- and 5-year persistence rates of XOIs were 67.2% and 40.9%, respectively. In the Kaplan-Meier analysis, persistence rates of allopurinol were significantly lower than those of febuxostat (p < 0.001). In the multivariable Cox regression model, allopurinol use was a significant risk factor for discontinuation of XOIs (HR = 2.01, p < 0.001). In addition, the presence of tophi and symptom duration < 24 months was independently associated with a higher risk of XOI withdrawal.

CONCLUSIONS

Long-term persistence of XOIs was suboptimal, and allopurinol had worse persistence rates than febuxostat among patients with gout. Key Points • Long-term persistence of xanthine oxidase inhibitors (XOIs) as first-line urate-lowering therapy (ULT) among patients with gout was suboptimal, and the major reason for XOI discontinuation was poor health literacy in our study. • We demonstrated that allopurinol had worse persistence rates than febuxostat among patients with gout, suggesting that febuxostat is a better option for long-term ULT in light of medication adherence in a real-world setting. • Patients with gout with tophi and shorter symptom duration were found to be at high risk for poor persistence of XOIs.