Similarly, golimumab showed no benefit in a 52-week randomized, controlled trial of 231 patients with severe uncontrolled asthma. Patients in that trial had no improvements over placebo in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) or exacerbations, and they experienced frequent severe infections, Dr. Ruderman said.
Two studies found that infliximab therapy provided no benefit in the management of COPD. The first was a 24-week study of 3 mg/kg, 5 mg/kg, and placebo in 159 patients. The findings showed no improvement in health status or FEV1, no lessening of exacerbations with treatment vs. placebo, and an increase in the risk of pneumonia in the treated group. The second study was an observational study involving a cohort of 15,771 patients with both RA and COPD. In this study, however, treatment with etanercept was associated with a 50% reduction in the rate of COPD hospitalization.
"I don’t know entirely what to make of that," Dr. Ruderman said, adding that it might be a result of improvement in the RA and thus overall health.
It’s an interesting observation, but overall the findings don’t say much about the off-label use of TNF inhibitors in COPD, he said.
Dr. Ruderman reported receiving consulting fees and/or research grants from Abbott, Allos, Amgen, Biogenidec, Celgene, Centocor, Crescendo, CVS/Caremark, Pfizer, and UCB.