Tofacitinib, an oral Janus kinase inhibitor is found to be more effective against rheumatoid arthritis. It has been reported in tow independent trials published in August 9 issue. One of the trial even hints that drug could be as effective as parenteral TNF blockers.
Tofacitinib is a Janus kinase inhibitor. In one trial by Fleischmann and colleagues, it is reported that tofacitinib proved superior to placebo when used alone in patients with rheumatoid arthritis resistant to earlier treatments, including methotrexate or biological therapies like as tumor-necrosis factor inhibitors.
The other trial by van Vollenhoven and colleagues tofacitinib had results to superior to placebo and similar to adalimumab, a tumor necrosis factor blocker.
Trial by Fleischmann and Colleagues
It was a double-blind, parallel group study testing tofacitinib by itself, 611 patients were randomly assigned to 4 groups-
- 5 mg tofacitinib twice daily
- 10 mg tofacitinib twice daily
- Placebo for 3 months followed by 5 mg of the trial drug twice daily
- 3 months of placebo followed by 10 mg of tofacitinib twice daily.
Tofacitinib proved superior to placebo in both the 5-and 10 mg doses at 3 months. er to be considered in remission.”
Trial by van Vollenhoven and Colleagues
It was a double-blind trial using tofacitinib and adalimumab against a placebo.
717 patients receiving methotrexate were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups
- Twice-daily doses of 10 mg tofacitinib
- Twice-daily doses of 10 mg tofacitinib
- 40 mg adalimumab once every 2 weeks
- Placebo
Both the groups receiving tofacitinib and adalimumab showed better results than placebo an outcomes in ofacitinib and adalimumab groups were comparable.
Adverse events and infections were more common in both tofacitinib groups which include including cytopenia, respiratory and urinary tract infections and gastrointestinal disturbance. Two cases of pulmonary tuberculosis were also reported
Both studies were supported by Pfizer.
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