Yihua Gu

Adalimumab for the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Hidradenitis Suppurativa: A Parallel Randomized Trial

BACKGROUND Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, painful skin disease characterized by abscesses, nodules, and draining fistulas in the axilla and groin of young adults. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy and safety of adalimumab, an anti-tumor necrosis factor-α antibody, in patients with moderate to severe HS. DESIGN Phase 2, parallel, randomized, placebo-controlled trial consisting of a blinded 16-week period (period 1) and an open-label 36-week period (period 2). All study personnel, investigators, and patients remained blinded to treatment group throughout the study. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00918255) SETTING 26 academic and private practice medical centers in the United States and Europe. PATIENTS 154 adult patients with moderate to severe HS who were unresponsive or intolerant to oral antibiotics. INTERVENTION Patients were assigned in a 1:1:1 ratio to adalimumab, 40 mg/wk; adalimumab, 40 mg every other week (EOW); or placebo. All patients received adalimumab, 40 mg EOW, at the beginning of period 2 but switched to weekly dosing if the response was suboptimal (HS Physicians Global Assessment [PGA] score of moderate or worse) at weeks 28 or 31. MEASUREMENTS The primary outcome measure (clinical response) was the proportion of patients achieving an HS-PGA score of clear, minimal, or mild with at least a 2-grade improvement relative to baseline at week 16. RESULTS At week 16, 3.9% of placebo patients (2 of 51), 9.6% of EOW patients (5 of 52), and 17.6% of weekly patients (9 of 51) achieved clinical response (EOW vs. placebo strata-adjusted difference, 5.6% [95% CI, -4.0% to 15.3%]; P = 0.25; weekly vs. placebo strata-adjusted difference, 13.7% [CI, 1.7% to 25.7%]; P = 0.025). Serious adverse event rates were 3.9%, 5.8%, and 7.8% for placebo, EOW, and weekly patients, respectively (EOW vs. placebo difference, 1.8% [CI, -6.4% to 10.1%]; weekly vs. placebo difference, 3.9% [CI, -5.2% to 13.0%]). Significantly greater improvements in patient-reported outcomes and pain were seen in the weekly dosing group than in the placebo group. A decrease in response was seen after the switch from weekly to EOW dosing in period 2. LIMITATIONS Weeks 16 to 52 of the study were open-label. The study was not powered to assess the risk for known serious adverse effects of adalimumab, such as tuberculosis, other serious infections, and demyelinating disorders. CONCLUSION Adalimumab dosed once per week alleviates moderate to severe HS. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE Abbott Laboratories.

Long-term efficacy and safety of adalimumab in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis treated continuously over 3 years: Results from an open-label extension study for patients from REVEAL

BACKGROUND REVEAL was a 52-week phase III trial of adalimumab therapy for moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis. Patients from REVEAL could enter an open-label extension trial to receive adalimumab for approximately 3 years of total therapy. OBJECTIVE We sought to determine long-term efficacy and safety of continuous adalimumab therapy for patients from REVEAL. METHODS Efficacy and safety over greater than 3 years of treatment were analyzed for 4 groups of patients from REVEAL. Patients who received adalimumab continuously from baseline were grouped by their responses in REVEAL: (1) greater than or equal to 75% improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score (PASI 75) at weeks 16 and 33 (sustained responders); (2) less than PASI 75 at week 16; and (3) greater than or equal to PASI 75 at week 16 with 50% to less than 75% improvement in PASI score at week 33. Results were also analyzed for patients who began adalimumab after 16 weeks of placebo therapy. RESULTS For patients with sustained PASI 75 responses during REVEAL, efficacy was generally well maintained over 3 years, with 75%/90%/100% improvement in PASI score response rates (last observation carried forward) of 83%/59%/33% after 100 weeks and 76%/50%/31% after 160 weeks of continuous therapy. Some patients with less than PASI 75 responses in REVEAL also achieved long-term PASI 75 responses. Efficacy in the placebo/adalimumab group was consistent with the ensemble of results from the other 3 groups. Adverse event rates were consistent with those during REVEAL. LIMITATIONS The REVEAL study design prevented analyzing all patients from the adalimumab arm as one long-term cohort. CONCLUSION Adalimumab efficacy was well maintained over more than 3 years of continuous therapy for patients with sustained initial PASI 75 responses. Maintenance was best at the PASI 100 level.

Efficacy and safety of adalimumab across subgroups of patients with moderate to severe psoriasis

BACKGROUND The phase III randomized controlled evaluation of adalimumab every other week dosing in moderate to severe psoriasis trial (REVEAL) demonstrated adalimumab induced significant improvements and was well tolerated for patients with moderate to severe psoriasis. OBJECTIVE We sought to determine the efficacy and safety of adalimumab for various subgroups of patients in REVEAL with moderate to severe psoriasis and to determine whether these profiles were consistent with the overall results. METHODS Patients (N = 1212) with moderate to severe psoriasis were randomized to adalimumab or placebo during the first 16 weeks of the trial. The primary efficacy endpoint was percentage of patients achieving at least 75% improvement in the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score at week 16. Post hoc subgroup analyses were conducted to determine relationships between adalimumab efficacy and/or safety and age group, sex, race, baseline weight intervals, baseline body mass index, disease duration, baseline severity, prior treatments, and comorbidities. RESULTS Consistent 75% or greater improvement in the PASI score responses were observed across all patient subgroups, with moderately reduced responses noted for patients in the greater weight and body mass index categories. A multivariate analysis identified treatment received, weight, and age as the most influential factors for mean percentage change in PASI score at week 16. No significant differences in the risk of serious adverse events in adalimumab- versus placebo-treated patients were observed across weight categories or for patients with baseline comorbidities. LIMITATIONS These subanalyses are limited by their relatively short, 16-week duration. CONCLUSION Treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis with adalimumab led to consistent 75% or greater improvement in PASI score response rates across the majority of patient subgroups, with no significant differences in serious adverse events.

Two Phase 3 Trials of Adalimumab for Hidradenitis Suppurativa.

BACKGROUND Hidradenitis suppurativa is a painful, chronic inflammatory skin disease with few options for effective treatment. In a phase 2 trial, adalimumab, an antibody against tumor necrosis factor α, showed efficacy against hidradenitis suppurativa. METHODS PIONEER I and II were similarly designed, phase 3 multicenter trials of adalimumab for hidradenitis suppurativa, with two double-blind, placebo-controlled periods. In period 1, patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to 40 mg of adalimumab weekly or matching placebo for 12 weeks. In period 2, patients were reassigned to adalimumab at a weekly or every-other-week dose or to placebo for 24 weeks. The primary end point was a clinical response, defined as at least a 50% reduction from baseline in the abscess and inflammatory-nodule count, with no increase in abscess or draining-fistula counts, at week 12. RESULTS We enrolled 307 patients in PIONEER I and 326 in PIONEER II. Clinical response rates at week 12 were significantly higher for the groups receiving adalimumab weekly than for the placebo groups: 41.8% versus 26.0% in PIONEER I (P=0.003) and 58.9% versus 27.6% in PIONEER II (P<0.001). Patients receiving adalimumab had significantly greater improvement than the placebo groups in rank-ordered secondary outcomes (lesions, pain, and the modified Sartorius score for disease severity) at week 12 in PIONEER II only. Serious adverse events in period 1 (excluding worsening of underlying disease) occurred in 1.3% of patients receiving adalimumab and 1.3% of those receiving placebo in PIONEER I and in 1.8% and 3.7% of patients, respectively, in PIONEER II. In period 2, the rates of serious adverse events were 4.6% or less in all the groups in both studies, with no significant between-group differences. CONCLUSIONS Treatment with adalimumab (40 mg weekly), as compared with placebo, resulted in significantly higher clinical response rates in both trials at 12 weeks; rates of serious adverse events were similar in the study groups. (Funded by AbbVie; ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT01468207 and NCT01468233 for PIONEER I and PIONEER II, respectively.).

Adalimumab for moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis: efficacy and safety of retreatment and disease recurrence following withdrawal from therapy

Background  Adalimumab is effective for moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis; however, data regarding retreatment following withdrawal and subsequent relapse are limited.

Assessing the validity, responsiveness and meaningfulness of the Hidradenitis Suppurativa Clinical Response (HiSCR) as the clinical endpoint for hidradenitis suppurativa treatment

Quantification of disease severity supports the development of evidence‐based treatments. Assessments to capture clinical improvement in hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) can be improved.

Benefit-risk assessment of tumour necrosis factor antagonists in the treatment of psoriasis.

Background  Safety of tumour necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists is a primary concern for clinicians prescribing them to patients with psoriasis.

The Long-Term Safety of Adalimumab Treatment in Moderate to Severe Psoriasis

Background: A favorable benefit-risk profile has been established for adalimumab, with up to 5 years of treatment in 13 clinical trials in patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis.Objective: The aim of this analysis was to assess the long-term safety of all adalimumab exposure in all psoriasis clinical trials.Methods: A total of six sets of data were analyzed as follows: (i) all cumulative safety data from all exposure for all adalimumab-treated patients in the 13 clinical trials in moderate to severe psoriasis (All Adalimumab Treatment Population) through April 2007, November 2008, and November 2009, respectively; (ii) longitudinal data for 1403 patients treated with adalimumab 40mg every other week (eow) dosing (Every Other Week Population) through June 2007 and April 2010; and (iii) data from placebo-controlled periods of clinical trials. Adverse events that occurred up to 70 days after the final dose of adalimumab were analyzed.Results: During placebo-controlled periods, a total of 572 patients had 173.0 patient-years (PYs) of exposure to placebo and 1188 patients had 370.5 PYs of exposure to adalimumab. Adverse event incidence rates, expressed as events per 100 PYs (events/100 PYs), for placebo- and adalimumab-treated patients for serious adverse events were 7.52 and 8.64, and for serious infectious adverse events were 2.89 and 2.43, respectively.In the 2007, 2008, and 2009 All Adalimumab Treatment Population there were, respectively, 1819 patients (2424.7 PYs), 2197 patients (4351.9 PYs), and 3010 patients (4844.7 PYs), with serious adverse event incidence rates of 6.51, 7.22, and 8.36 events/100 PYs, and serious infectious adverse event rates of 1.32, 1.38, and 1.65 events/100 PYs.In the 2007 and 2010 Every Other Week Population (n = 1403), there were 1883.5 and 2854.1 total PYs of exposure, respectively, with serious adverse event incidence rates of 6.32 and 6.87 events/100 PYs, and serious infectious adverse event rates of 1.33 and 1.37 events/100 PYs, respectively.Conclusions: Multiple lines of evidence from a total of six sets of safety data, with treatment for up to 5 years, including results from all adalimumab-treated patients, and a subset of patients treated with 40mg eow dosing, did not show evidence of cumulative toxicity, and showed adverse event rates that were generally stable or decreased with increased mean per-patient exposure.

Efficacy, safety and medication cost implications of adalimumab 40 mg weekly dosing in patients with psoriasis with suboptimal response to 40 mg every other week dosing: results from an open‐label study

Background  The clinical utility of increasing to weekly adalimumab therapy in patients with psoriasis with inadequate response to every other week (eow) dosing is unknown.

Long-term outcomes of interruption and retreatment vs. continuous therapy with adalimumab for psoriasis: subanalysis of REVEAL and the open-label extension study

Background  REVEAL was a 52‐week study of adalimumab for moderate to severe psoriasis. At Week 33, adalimumab‐treated patients with sustained responses (PASI ≥75 at Weeks 16 and 33) were re‐randomized to receive adalimumab or placebo. Subsequently, they could receive adalimumab in an open‐label extension (OLE) study.