The rate of patients achieving remission, measured by a clinical disease activity index of 2.8 or less, occurred in 15% of patients who received 2 mg baricitinib daily after 24 weeks as well as in 15% of patients who received the 4-mg dosage after 24 weeks, compared with a 4% rate among the placebo patients, and the comparisons between each of the active-treatment arms and the control group revealed statistically significant differences.
Dr. Dougados also reported data on rates of radiographic progression after 24 weeks, as measured by the van der Heijde modified Sharp score, which showed that treatment with the 4-mg/day dosage of baricitinib resulted in significant reductions in both erosions and joint space narrowing, compared with placebo patients.
Baricitinib treatment in the RA-BUILD study produced a safety profile similar to that seen in the RA-BEACON trial. Dr. Dougados called the safety and tolerability profiles seen in this study “satisfactory.”
RA-BEACON and RA-BUILD were sponsored by Eli Lilly, the company developing baricitinib. Dr. Genovese disclosed ties with Eli Lilly, AbbVie, Astellas, Galapagos, Pfizer, and Vertex. Dr. Dougados has ties with Eli Lilly, AbbVie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi, and UCB. Dr. Fonseca disclosed ties with 12 drug companies. Dr. Fleischmann has ties with many drug companies.
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