Key clinical point: Upadacitinib vs abatacept treatment resulted in rapid and greater improvements in patient-reported physical function, pain, and overall health in patients with moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and an inadequate response to biologic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs-IR).
Major finding: At 12 weeks, a higher proportion of patients receiving upadacitinib vs abatacept reported clinically meaningful improvements in the Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI; 74% vs 64%; P < .05), with significant improvements in patient-assessed disease activity (least-squares mean change [LSMC] −33.9 vs −28.4), pain (LSMC −35.3 vs −30.0), HAQ-DI (LSMC −0.65 vs −0.48), and EQ-5D-5L index (LSMC 0.26 vs 0.21; all P < .05) scores.
Study details: Findings are from a post hoc analysis of the SELECT-CHOICE phase 3 trial including 612 patients with moderate-to-severe RA and bDMARDs-IR patients who were randomly assigned to receive upadacitinib or abatacept with concomitant conventional synthetic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs.
Disclosures: This study was funded by AbbVie Inc. Six authors declared being current or former employees or stockholders of AbbVie or a company receiving consulting fees from AbbVie . The other authors reported ties with AbbVie and various sources.
Source: Bergman M et al. Patient-reported outcomes of upadacitinib versus abatacept in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and an inadequate response to biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs: 12- and 24-week results of a phase 3 trial. Arthritis Res Ther. 2022;24:15 (Jun 24). Doi: 10.1186/s13075-022-02813-x