medwireNews: The Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor baricitinib results in clinical improvements among Chinese patients with moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and an inadequate response to methotrexate, suggests an analysis of data from the RA-BALANCE trial.
These findings are “consistent” with previously published results from the placebo-controlled phase 3 study, which demonstrated the efficacy and safety of baricitinib 4 mg/day in the overall study population, report Zhan-Guo Li (Peking University People’s Hospital, Beijing, China) and study co-authors. RA-BALANCE included a total of 290 participants from China (79.7%), Argentina (14.8%), and Brazil (5.5%).
The present analysis included 231 Chinese participants, and showed that ACR20 response rates at week 12 were significantly higher among those treated with baricitinib versus placebo, at 53.4% versus 22.6%. A number of other outcomes, including ACR50 and 70 response rates and the proportion of patients with low disease activity according to CDAI and SDAI cutoffs, were also significantly improved among baricitinib- compared with placebo-treated patients.
Li et al note in Rheumatology and Therapy that “[c]onsistent efficacy of baricitinib was observed across subgroups defined by different demographics and baseline characteristics,” in accordance with previous studies including RA-BEAM and RA-BUILD. They say that the JAK inhibitor “was well tolerated with an acceptable safety profile during the study period.”
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Rheumatol Ther 2020; doi:10.1007/s40744-020-00231-6