Assessment of Treatment Safety and Quality of Life in Patients Receiving Etanercept Biosimilar for Autoimmune Arthritis (ASQA): A Multicenter Post-marketing Surveillance Study

Abstract

Introduction Phase\xa0IV post-marketing surveillance studies are needed to evaluate the real-world safety and effectiveness of drug products. This study aimed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of biosimilar etanercept (Altebrel, AryoGen Co., Iran) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Methods In this open-label, multicenter, prospective, observational, post-marketing surveillance study, 583 patients received biosimilar etanercept 25\xa0mg twice weekly or 50\xa0mg once weekly and were followed up to 12\xa0months. The primary objective was to evaluate the safety of biosimilar etanercept by documenting all the adverse events in the case report forms throughout the study period. The secondary objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of biosimilar etanercept in study patients, where longitudinal changes in health assessment questionnaire (HAQ), pain, and disease activity scores were assessed. Results A total of 583 patients (44.80\u2009±\u200913.09\xa0years of age) were included and followed for an average of 8.12\u2009±\u20093.96\xa0months. Among all patients, 172 (29.50%) experienced at least one adverse event, and injection site reaction, abdominal pain, and upper respiratory tract infection were the most common. HAQ scores decreased from 1.32\u2009±\u20090.77 at baseline to 0.81\u2009±\u20090.61 at 12\xa0months in patients with RA/PsA ( p \u2009<\u20090.01) and from 0.82\u2009±\u20090.58 at baseline to 0.66\u2009±\u20090.63 at 12\xa0months in patients with AS ( p \u2009=\u20090.18). Pain scores decreased from 6.49\u2009±\u20092.41 at baseline to 3.51\u2009±\u20092.39 at 12\xa0months ( p \u2009<\u20090.01). Conclusion The results demonstrated the real-world safety and effectiveness of biosimilar etanercept in patients with RA, PsA, and AS. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT04582084.