Efficacy of Maintaining or Switching to Baricitinib Monotherapy Save

A post hoc analysis of baricitinib use in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients shows that while many patients respond well to baricitinib monotherapy or to switching to baricitinib monotherapy, those with less disease control respond well to the addition of methotrexate (MTX) to baricitinb.  

This analysis included patients in the RA-BEGIN study (in early MTX naive RA) who entered a long-term extension, RA-BEYOND (Bari + MTX addition at physician discretion).

A total of 423 (un-rescued) patients in the RA-BEYOND study were analyzed and nearly half (53%) of these added MTX. Take home points were:

• Patients with lower disease activity at RA-BEYOND baseline did well with baricitinib monotherapy
• Patients prescribed MTX had higher disease activity and had improved disease activity after the addition of MTX. 

There were also many patients who responded well to continued baricitinib monotherapy or to switching to baricitinib monotherapy from MTX monotherapy or baricitinib plus MTX.

For those who had not achieved acceptable disease control on MTX monotherapy, switching to baricitinib monotherapy improved RA disease in many patients. And for those patients who achieved acceptable disease control with baricitinib plus MTX, many (approximately 50%) could discontinue MTX and maintain their response.