The use of biosimilars as a new approach to the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

The article discusses various options for the management of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in accordance with modern foreign and domestic recommendations. Data on the possibility of achieving an effect on the background of monotherapy with methotrexate (MT) are presented and options for more active therapy are discussed. The authors compare the effectiveness of sequential change of basic anti-inflammatory drugs (DMARDs), sequential addition of DMARDs to MT, treatment with a triple combination of DMARDs with an inadequate response to MT or in the debut of therapy, combination of DMARDs and biological drugs. According to the study data, in cohorts of patients with equal clinical effectiveness of the triple combination of DMARDs and the combination of DMARDs with biological drugs, however, the severity of the progression of destruction in the joints of the hands and feet is less when using biological agents. It was noted that the evaluation of the effectiveness of the double / triple combination of DMARDs was carried out in open observational studies, which has less evidence value than randomized controlled double-blind placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) for the assessment of biological drugs. Despite the importance of implementing biological drugs in clinical practice, their high cost limits their use by patients. Registration in the Russian Federation of the first biosimilar of etanercept (ETN) - the drug Erelzi is important for the treatment of patients with RA. The article describes the advantages of original ETN (tumor necrosis factor ainhibitor - iFNO a) over other iFNO a, which are monoclonal antibodies to this cytokine. The article presents data on the equivalence of the ETN biosimilar registered in the Russian Federation (Erelzi) with the original ETN in terms of clinical efficacy, safety and immunogenicity. The comparability of drugs in terms of the frequency of adverse events was demonstrated. It is shown that switching from the original ETN to its biosimilar allows you to maintain the effect, not accompanied by an increase in the frequency of intolerance or immunogenicity. It is indicated that Erelzi is registered in the Russian Federation for the treatment of RA, various variants of axial spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, psoriasis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis.