ACR 2020 - RA Highlights Brochure

Chairman’s Introduction
Dear CSF Member,
Welcome to this year’s selection of ACR abstracts on cytokine signalling agents marketed for use in RA and my
‘Chairman’s Picks’. Every year the number of data concerning these agents continues to grow, and so, for this year’s
ACR we have focussed our selections herein only on RA - other indications are addressed in a separate review.
The largest number of abstracts this year concerns upadacitinib. Key among them are the 72-week monotherapy
MTX-naïve data [0207], and 84-week monotherapy data with prior inadequate response to MTX [0209]. Sustainability
of response to upadacitinib vs adalimumab will be presented [0214], along with the long-term safety and effectiveness
at 72-weeks of the same study [0212]. The incidence and risk of VTEs in RA patients treated with upadacitinib is
also described [0215]. There is an interesting analyses of the response to pneumococcal vaccination in RA patients
from an open-label phase 2 extension study [1996] and the incidence and risk factors for HZ in RA patients receiving
upadacitinib from the phase 3 programme [2002]. In addition, Bergman M et al. examine PROs of upadacitinib vs
abatacept from the SELECT-CHOICE study [1728].
Filgotinib is the therapeutic subject of several interesting abstracts, with a post-hoc analysis of work productivity [0141],
52-week efficacy and safety results [0208] from the FINCH-1 trial and efficacy and safety results in MTX-naïve RA
patients [0217]. Additional analyses of the phase 3 filgotinib programme include an examination of the effect of filgotinib
on pain [1201] and SF-36 and HAQ-DI [0136] across both studies, plus an in depth looks at pain relief, fatigue and
QoL in patients with inadequate response to bDMARDs [1215], and naïve to methotrexate [1216].
There are also a number of interesting abstracts presented on tofacitinib and baricitinib. For tofacitinib there is a
study on the comparative effectiveness of tofacitinib vs abatacept in ACPA+ patients [0824] and an examination of
tofacitinib’s impact on weight [1203]. In real world studies, there is an abstract from Madariaga H et al. presenting
the impact of tofacitinib vs bDMARDs on PROs in two Latin American countries [1241] - there are also results from
a cohort study on time to discontinuation of tofacitinib and TNF inhibitors with or without MTX [0808]. We will also
see effects on bone metabolism following one-year tofacitinib treatment in RA [0104]. Turning to baricitinib, Winthrop K
et al. present an updated integrated safety analysis up to 8.4 years [0202] and van der Heijde et al. present on 5-year
radiographic progression data. There is also an analyses of PROs from the RA-BEACON and RA-BUILD trials [1228].
Within the following pages, we share our detailed selection of the congress highlights. As always, thank you for your
continued support, and we hope you enjoy the virtual ACR 2020 experience. Of course, the most important message
is to wish you safe times for you and your families!
Kind regards,
Prof. Iain McInnes
Chairman’s picks