Key clinical point: Methotrexate-naive patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) showed varied joint-specific clinical responses to tofacitinib and methotrexate monotherapies, with those receiving methotrexate demonstrating more radiographic progression in the foot joints despite improved clinical response.
Major finding: At 12 months, tofacitinib vs methotrexate improved the clinical response in most tender and swollen joints, except some foot joints. Methotrexate improved the clinical response in most foot joints; however, radiographic progression was significantly worse with methotrexate vs tofacitinib ( P < .05).
Study details: Findings are from a post hoc analysis of the phase 3 ORAL Start trial including 956 methotrexate-naive patients with RA who were randomly assigned to receive monotherapy with 5 mg (n = 373) or 10 mg (n = 397) tofacitinib or methotrexate (n = 186).
Disclosures: This study was sponsored by Pfizer, Inc. Four authors declared being current or former employees or shareholders of Pfizer or Syneos Health. Some authors declared receiving grants, honoraria, or research funding or having other ties with various sources, including Pfizer.
Source: Ciurea A et al. Joint-level responses to tofacitinib and methotrexate: A post hoc analysis of data from ORAL Start. Arthritis Res Ther. 2023;25:185 (Sep 29). doi: 10.1186/s13075-023-03144-1