‘Strong’ Treatment Predictions in Inflammatory Myositis Save
Dr. Janet Pope, reports on abstracts POS0264 and OP0166, presented at the 2026 EULAR meeting in London.
Transcription
Hello, welcome to RheumNow, our great coverage of EULAR 2026 in London. And just to let everyone know, London had a heat wave. It's gone now. It's going to rain every day. There's a tube strike and the sun's not out, it's cold, but it's still a fun meeting.
So I want to talk about strong treatment predictions in inflammatory myositis. I think everyone's aware for many years we treated inflammatory myositis really going down an algorithm — glucocorticoids, steroid-sparing drugs like methotrexate, MMF, or tacrolimus, and then more severe cases IVIG or rituximab, and rarely cyclophosphamide. And let's be honest, all this stuff was off-label. Then there were some data on JAK inhibitors such as JAK1 tofacitinib — no RCT, but an observational study that could help both inflammatory myositis but also helping calcinosis a bit.
But we got a new kid on the block. So what am I going to tell you about? It's a TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor and if I don't say it right, please forgive me. It's called brepocitinib, and this drug has actually now had a publication of a positive phase three study. It's called the VALOR V trial. And there are going to be two abstracts presented at EULAR here. The abstracts are poster 0264 and oral presentation OP0166.
So what did they learn? I think it's really important to understand that in this positive trial it was inflammatory myositis that was dermatomyositis. So they looked at muscle and skin, and they looked at steroid-sparing potential, and in all cases the active treatment was superior with about a double response on average, and 241 patients with dermatomyositis. So steroid tapering, better improvement on skin and on the muscle features that they looked at — and they used various scores that you really don't need to go into. I think the bottom line is that it was positive.
And then where I want to put this for you to understand is in a context. So there are a lot of studies going on in inflammatory myositis. The FcRn blockers — there are three of them in studies. Then there are also other studies like interferon beta signaling with a drug called Dazukibart. There's anifrolumab, so interferon, and then there's the Toll-like receptor and pattern which also is in a positive phase 2 lupus study, it's in phase three, and then there's a whole bunch of other drugs.
So I think the most important thing is we now have strong data to guide our treatment, and I think that when we get these other results from other phase two and three studies we're going to have a lot to offer our patients, hopefully in the future, on label. Keep following us — it's at RheumNow and you'll be hearing lots at EULAR 2026 from the RheumNow crowd. Thank you.
So I want to talk about strong treatment predictions in inflammatory myositis. I think everyone's aware for many years we treated inflammatory myositis really going down an algorithm — glucocorticoids, steroid-sparing drugs like methotrexate, MMF, or tacrolimus, and then more severe cases IVIG or rituximab, and rarely cyclophosphamide. And let's be honest, all this stuff was off-label. Then there were some data on JAK inhibitors such as JAK1 tofacitinib — no RCT, but an observational study that could help both inflammatory myositis but also helping calcinosis a bit.
But we got a new kid on the block. So what am I going to tell you about? It's a TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor and if I don't say it right, please forgive me. It's called brepocitinib, and this drug has actually now had a publication of a positive phase three study. It's called the VALOR V trial. And there are going to be two abstracts presented at EULAR here. The abstracts are poster 0264 and oral presentation OP0166.
So what did they learn? I think it's really important to understand that in this positive trial it was inflammatory myositis that was dermatomyositis. So they looked at muscle and skin, and they looked at steroid-sparing potential, and in all cases the active treatment was superior with about a double response on average, and 241 patients with dermatomyositis. So steroid tapering, better improvement on skin and on the muscle features that they looked at — and they used various scores that you really don't need to go into. I think the bottom line is that it was positive.
And then where I want to put this for you to understand is in a context. So there are a lot of studies going on in inflammatory myositis. The FcRn blockers — there are three of them in studies. Then there are also other studies like interferon beta signaling with a drug called Dazukibart. There's anifrolumab, so interferon, and then there's the Toll-like receptor and pattern which also is in a positive phase 2 lupus study, it's in phase three, and then there's a whole bunch of other drugs.
So I think the most important thing is we now have strong data to guide our treatment, and I think that when we get these other results from other phase two and three studies we're going to have a lot to offer our patients, hopefully in the future, on label. Keep following us — it's at RheumNow and you'll be hearing lots at EULAR 2026 from the RheumNow crowd. Thank you.
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