Efficacy of infliximab as a switched biologic in rheumatoid arthritis patients in daily clinical practice - Efficacy of infliximab as a switched biologic in rheumatoid arthritis patients in daily clinical practice

Immunological Medicine Efficacy of infliximab as a switched biologic in rheumatoid arthritis patients in daily clinical practice Masataka Umeda, Tomohiro Koga et al. From other patients to infliximab (IFX) from other biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) among Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in daily practice. Methods: We examined 24 consecutive RA patient who had not achieved low disease activity (LDA) as the Disease Activity Score-28 for Rheumatoid Arthritis with Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (DAS 28 - ESR) despite previous bDMARD therapy in this cohort study. DAS 28 - ESR LDA at 22 weeks post - IFX introduction, by performing univariate analysis. Results: The median DAS 28 - ESR at baseline was 5.41. Sixteen patients (66.7%) had been treated with a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNF - i), and the other eight patients (33.3%) received a non - TNF - i abatacept or tocilizumab) achieved LDA or remission at 22 weeks. Univariate analyses showed that the variable to predict LDA achievement at 22 weeks was tender joints (> 8 counts) at baseline (adjusted odds ratio, 0.10; 95 % confidence interval, 0.01 - 0.63; P = 0.02), whereas the other baseline clinical variables including MTX dosage, disease duration and the previous usage of TNF-i not not associated with LDA achievement. and infection requiring hospitalization was observed in one patient. Conclusion: Switching to IFX is effective to achieve LDA or remission for RA patients refractory to bDMARDs.