Key clinical point: Discontinuation of denosumab after 1 year of treatment showed a return to baseline lumbar spine (LS) and total hip (TH) bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving glucocorticoids.
Major finding: By 12 months after discontinuation, TH BMD reduced to levels similar to or slightly above placebo in patients receiving 60 mg ( P = .210) and 180 mg denosumab ( P = .706). Similar reversal of gains was observed for LS BMD with the least-square percent mean change from baseline in placebo, 60 mg, and 180 mg denosumab, being 2.30% (95% CI −0.35%-4.94%), 1.31% (95% CI −1.17%-3.79%), and 0.12% (95% CI −2.45%-2.68%), respectively.
Study details: This was a post hoc analysis of a phase 2 study including 82 patients with RA receiving glucocorticoids, randomly assigned to placebo, 60 mg, or 180 mg denosumab every 6 months for 12 months.
Disclosures: The study was sponsored by Amgen Inc. Some of the authors declared ties with various sources including Amgen. MT McDermott, RK Stad, L Chen, and S Huang declared being employees of Amgen.
Source: Saag KG et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2021 Sep 17. doi: 10.1002/art.41981.