EULAR 2020: Head-to-head PHASE III study confirms AbbVie's JAK1 inhibitor upadacitinib treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, better than CTLA-4-Fc fusion protein abatacept

At the 2020 European Rheumatology Alliance Annual Meeting (EULAR 2020), AbbVie announced the latest data from the third select-CHOICE clinical trial, which showed that its JAK1 inhibitor, RINVOQ (upadacitinib), reached a major end point of non-depotinity compared to Baxter's CTLA-4-Fc fusion protein ENCThe study evaluated adult patients with moderate to severe active rheumatoid arthritis who were under-responsive or poorly tolerated with rheumatoid drugs (DMARDs) to alleviate the conditionPhoto Source: rincoq.com RINVOQ is an optional and reversible JAK inhibitor discovered and developed by AbbVie and has been approved for the treatment of adult patients with moderate to severe active rheumatoid arthritis who have poor or intolerable responses to one or more DMARDsDr Michael Severino, Vice Chairman and President of AbbVie, said: "Despite significant progress in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, approximately 70 per cent of patients are still unable to achieve clinical remission through existing treatmentsThe results of this clinical trial further demonstrate that RINVOQ may be able to provide new treatments for more adult patients with rheumatoid arthritisProfessor Andrea Rubbert-Roth, deputy director of rheumatology at StGallen's State Hospital in Switzerland, said: "These data show that upacitinib is better than abatacept in terms of the proportion of patients who reach remissionSELECT-CHOICE is the first head-to-head study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis who have failed to treat DMARD, which is important for everyday decision-making in practiceIn this study, RINVOQ reached the primary and secondary endpoint, with 30% of patients receiving upacitinib achieving clinical remission (DAS28-CRP 2.6) at the 12th week, compared with 13% of patients receiving abatacept