medwireNews: Treatment with certolizumab pegol is beneficial for patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) in real-world clinical practice, suggest findings from the CIMAX study.
As reported in Rheumatology, 439 patients from six European countries who commenced treatment with the tumor necrosis factor inhibitor between 2015 and 2018 experienced improvements in disease activity during 12 months of treatment, with an average reduction in BASDAI score of 2.9 points from a baseline of 6.1 points.
Xenofon Baraliakos (Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany) and colleagues say that similar reductions in disease activity were seen among the 301 patients with ankylosing spondylitis and the 137 with nonradiographic axSpA (one patient in the effectiveness analysis had an unconfirmed diagnosis). And improvements were seen in both patient groups “across multiple measures assessing various aspects of axSpA, including disease activity, pain, morning stiffness, fatigue, inflammation and physical function,” they write.
The team adds that “[n]o new safety concerns were identified over the course of treatment,” with 37.9% of the full study population of 672 patients, including those who did not complete follow-up, experiencing adverse events (AEs) and 20.5% discontinuing treatment due to AEs. A total of 6.3% experienced serious AEs, including 15 serious infections, three serious cardiovascular events, and one malignancy.
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Rheumatology 2020; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/keaa18