What is it about?
Rituximab is approved for use in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who do not respond to their first biologic therapy. However, clinical practice sees a number of patients treated with rituximab as their first biologic. Results of long-term use of rituximab as a first-line biologic has not been previously reported. Therefore, using data from the British Society of Rheumatology Biologics Register for Rheumatoid Arthritis (BSRBR-RA), this study aims to investigate the long term use of rituximab and identify reasons patients may stop treatment.
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Why is it important?
A total of 1629 patients with rheumatoid arthritis were registered with the BSRBR-RA starting rituximab, 16% as their first biologic. The majority of patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with rituximab remain on treatment after four years. The three most common reasons for stopping rituximab were ineffectiveness, death and adverse events. Rituximab is well tolerated when used as a first or second-line biologic. These findings should be of value to clinicians when selecting a first or second-line biologic for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Perspectives
My main role in this analysis was supporting first author Oldroyd with regard to accessing the BSRBR-RA data set and methods for data cleaning, as well as proofing the manuscript. I enjoyed working with Oldroyd and look forward to any future collaborations we may get the opportunity to have.
Dr. Lianne Kearsley-Fleet
University of Manchester
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Long-term persistence with rituximab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, Rheumatology, March 2018, Oxford University Press (OUP),
DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/key036.
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