medwireNews: Baseline characteristics have no substantial impact on baricitinib treatment response among patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and an inadequate response to conventional DMARDs, researchers report.
These findings suggest that “when indicated, baricitinib can be prescribed to patients regardless of their clinical features,” Joel Kremer (Albany Medical College and The Center for Rheumatology, New York, USA) and co-investigators write in RMD Open.
In a post-hoc analysis of the RA-BEAM and RA-BUILD studies, the 714 patients treated with baricitinib 4 mg were significantly more likely to achieve at least a 20% improvement in ACR criteria (ACR20) than the 716 placebo-treated patients regardless of factors including age, BMI, smoking, disease activity, and prior treatment.
Certain subgroups of patients, including non-White and non-Asian people, and those who weighed 100 kg or greater, appeared to derive a smaller benefit from baricitinib than other participants, but Kremer and colleagues note that these results “should be evaluated with caution” given the small number of patients in these subgroups.
Overall, the findings suggest that “it is impossible to identify a subset of patients [that] is likely to benefit from baricitinib therapy, or a subset of patients that is unlikely to respond,” write the researchers.
medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare. © 2018 Springer Healthcare part of the Springer Nature group
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