Author:

Keywords:

Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Rheumatology, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Filgotinib, Patient-Reported Outcome Measures, JAK inhibitor, HEALTH SURVEY SF-36, DISEASE-ACTIVITY, FATIGUE, GLPG0634/GS-6034, TOFACITINIB, LONG, Antirheumatic Agents, Arthritis, Rheumatoid, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Double-Blind Method, Drug Therapy, Combination, Female, Humans, Janus Kinase 1, Male, Methotrexate, Middle Aged, Patient Reported Outcome Measures, Protein Kinase Inhibitors, Pyridines, Treatment Outcome, Triazoles, 1103 Clinical Sciences, 1107 Immunology, 1117 Public Health and Health Services, Arthritis & Rheumatology, 3202 Clinical sciences, 3204 Immunology

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: The aim was to assess patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with filgotinib during two phase 2b, 24-week, randomized, placebo-controlled studies. METHODS: Patients with moderate-to-severe active RA and an inadequate response to methotrexate (MTX) were randomized to daily placebo or filgotinib 50 mg, 100 mg, or 200 mg as add-on therapy to MTX (NCT01888874) or as monotherapy (NCT01894516). At week 12, nonresponders receiving filgotinib 50 mg in both studies or placebo in the add-on study, and all patients receiving placebo as monotherapy, were re-assigned to filgotinib 100 mg. PROs were measured using the Health Assessment Questionnaire - Disability Index (HAQ-DI) including Patient Pain assessed by visual analog scale, and the Patient Global Assessment of Disease Activity (Patient Global), the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT)-Fatigue Scale (Version 4), and the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). RESULTS: At week 12, improvements in all PROs, apart from the SF-36 mental component in the add-on study, were statistically better with filgotinib than placebo; some improvements were noted as early as the first assessment time point (week 1 or week 4). Filgotinib improved HAQ-DI by 0.58-0.84 points, FACIT-Fatigue by 6.9-11.4 points, Patient Global by 25.2-35.6 mm, and Pain by 24.2-37.9 mm; scores were maintained or improved to week 24. Across all PROs, more patients achieved minimal clinically important differences and normative values with filgotinib 200 mg than placebo. Patients re-assigned to filgotinib 100 mg at week 12 experienced improvements in PROs between weeks 12 to 24. CONCLUSIONS: Filgotinib as MTX add-on therapy or as monotherapy demonstrated rapid and sustained (to 24 weeks) improvements in health-related quality of life and functional status in patients with active RA. TRIAL REGISTRATION: MTX add-on study: ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT01888874 . Registered on 28 June 2013. Monotherapy study: ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT01894516 . Registered on 10 July 2013.