Key clinical point: Certolizumab (CTZ) monotherapy seemed as effective as combination therapy with methotrexate (MTX) or leflunomide (LFN) or MTX+LFN in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who failed previous conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARD) therapy.
Major finding: Overall, 63% of patients were in remission or showed low disease activity (LDA) within 3 months of follow-up, with no difference between groups ( P = .080). Most patients maintained response at 12 months, with remission or LDA achieved by 94.4%, 81.8%, 80.5%, and 51.4% of patients receiving CTZ monotherapy, CTZ+MTX, CTZ+LFN, and MTX+LFN, respectively (P = .001) .
Study details: This was a retrospective cohort study of 181 patients with RA who were treated for a minimum of 3 months with certolizumab as monotherapy (n=24) or in combination with MTX (n=62), LFN (n=47) or MTX+LFN (n=48).
Disclosures: No information on funding was provided. P Santos-Moreno and A Rojas-Villarrage received fees for conferences, counseling, advisory boards, or travel expenses and research grants from various sources.
Source: Santos-Moreno P et al. Biologics. 2021 Oct 22. doi: 10.2147/BTT.S322860 .