Long-term safety of tofacitinib for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis up to 8.5 years: integrated analysis of data from the global clinical trials

Abstract

ObjectivesTofacitinib is an oral Janus kinase inhibitor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We report an integrated safety summary of tofacitinib from two phase I, nine phase II, six phase III and two long-term extension studies in adult patients with active RA.MethodsData were pooled for all tofacitinib-treated patients (data cut-off: 31 March 2015). Incidence rates (IRs; patients with event/100 patient-years) and 95% CIs are reported for adverse events (AEs) of interest.Results6194 patients received tofacitinib for a total 19 406 patient-years' exposure; median exposure was 3.4 patient-years. IR (95% CI) for serious AEs was 9.4 (9.0 to 9.9); IR for serious infections was 2.7 (2.5 to 3.0). IR for (all) herpes zoster was 3.9 (3.6 to 4.2); IR for disseminated or multidermatomal herpes zoster was 0.3 (0.2 to 0.4). IR for opportunistic infections (excluding tuberculosis) was 0.3 (0.2 to 0.4) and was 0.2 (0.1 to 0.3) for tuberculosis. IR for malignancies (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC)) was 0.9 (0.8 to 1.0); NMSC IR was 0.6 (0.5 to 0.7). IR for gastrointestinal perforations was 0.1 (0.1 to 0.2). Analysis of IR for serious infections, herpes zoster and malignancies by 6-month intervals did not reveal any notable increase in IR with longer-duration tofacitinib exposure.ConclusionThis analysis of tofacitinib exposure up to 8.5 years allowed estimation of safety events with improved precision versus previous tofacitinib reports. AEs were generally stable over time; no new safety signals were observed compared with previous tofacitinib reports.Trial registration numbers NCT01262118, NCT01484561, NCT00147498, NCT00413660, NCT00550446, NCT00603512, NCT00687193, NCT01164579, NCT00976599, NCT01059864, NCT01359150, NCT00960440, NCT00847613, NCT00814307, NCT00856544, NCT00853385, NCT01039688, NCT00413699, NCT00661661; Results.

Singapore chapter of rheumatologists' updated consensus statement on the eligibility for government subsidization of biologic and targeted therapy for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis

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Singapore Chapter of Rheumatologists updated consensus statement on the eligibility for government subsidization of biologic and targeted‐synthetic therapy for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

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An urticarial drug eruption caused by tofacitinib for alopecia universalis

“…Reported side‐effects included Grade I and II infections, elevated liver transaminase, and cholesterol (Triyangkulsri & Suchonwanit, ). Long‐term safety reports of tofacitinib for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis suggest an increased risk of herpes zoster, opportunistic infections, tuberculosis, and skin malignancies (Cohen et al, ). We report a case of drug‐induced urticaria due to tofacitinib during treatment of AU.…”