This article, co-authored by a psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patient and a physician who regularly encounters and treats PsA patients, discusses the patients experience of living with the disease, from diagnosis through living with the disease day-to-day and other peoples reactions to their treatment experiences and responses. The physician adds to this by providing his experiences in treating PsA with biologics, and the importance of patients working together with their rheumatologists to maximize the efficacy of treatments and improve patients quality of life.

Introduction

Tofacitinib is an oral Janus kinase inhibitor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Tofacitinib monotherapy was previously shown to inhibit structural damage, reduce clinical signs and symptoms of RA, and improve physical functioning over 24 months in methotrexate (MTX)-naive adult patients with RA. In this post hoc analysis, we compared efficacy and safety of tofacitinib in patients with early (disease duration <1 year) versus established (≥1 year) RA.

Methods

MTX-naive patients ≥18 years with active RA received tofacitinib monotherapy (5 or 10 mg two times a day, or MTX monotherapy, in a 24-month Phase 3 trial.

Results

Of 956 patients (tofacitinib 5 mg two times a day, n=373; tofacitinib 10 mg two times a day, n=397; MTX, n=186), 54% had early RA. Baseline disease activity and functional disability were similar in both groups; radiographic damage was greater in patients with established RA. At month 24, clinical response rates were significantly greater in patients with early versus established RA in the tofacitinib 5 mg two times a day group. Both tofacitinib doses had greater effects on clinical, functional and radiographic improvements at 1 and 2 years compared with MTX, independent of disease duration. No new safety signals were observed.

Conclusions

Treatment response was generally similar in early and established RA; significantly greater improvements were observed at month 24 with tofacitinib 5 mg two times a day in early versus established RA. Tofacitinib 5 and 10 mg two times a day demonstrated greater efficacy versus MTX irrespective of disease duration. No difference in safety profiles was observed between patients with early or established RA.

Trial registration number

NCT01039688; Results.

The National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) is developing an agenda for patient-centered research to help patients and their caregivers make more informed health care decisions by engaging psoriasis patients in prioritizing comparative effectiveness research (CER) topics. The NPF has created a novel patient-centered research platform known as Citizen Pscientist (CP), allowing patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis to register and contribute their health data. The CP Governance Council administered an online 23-question CER survey to the CP community and held a structured meeting on December 3, 2016, with patients and researchers to review CER survey results and discuss patient-centered research priorities. Of the 2,945 patients surveyed, 792 patients responded. Three CER topics were deemed to be of high priority for the research agenda: 1) Treat-to-target therapy for psoriasis, 2) Psoriatic arthritis screening questionnaires for early detection and treatment of psoriatic arthritis, and 3) Comparative effectiveness of home-based phototherapy for psoriasis.