Further Study
Moving forward, Dr. Carron and colleagues are also looking at patients who completed the original CRESPA extension. “After those two years (Week 104), patients were offered an additional 12 weeks of golimumab treatment, but now in combination with methotrexate 15 mg weekly,” explains Dr. Carron. “At Week 116, patients in clinical remission continued methotrexate, but discontinued golimumab.”
The researchersfollowed the patients prospectively to assess rates of sustained clinical remission without golimumab.
It was restarted if the patients relapsed under the methotrexate monotherapy. In September, the data from this follow-up study were shared at the International Spondyloarthritis Congress of Ghent.
Ruth Jessen Hickman, MD, is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Medicine. She is a freelance medical and science writer living in Bloomington, Ind.
References
- Carron P, Varkas G, Renson T, et al. High rate of drug-free remission after induction therapy with golimumab in early peripheral spondyloarthritis. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2018 May 27. doi: 10.1002/art.40573.
- Carron P, Varkas G, Cypers H, et al. Anti-TNF-induced remission in very early peripheral spondyloarthritis: The CRESPA study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2017 Aug;76(8):1389–1395.
- Paramarta JE, Heijda TF, Baeten DL. Fast relapse upon discontinuation of tumour necrosis factor blocking therapy in patients with peripheral spondyloarthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2013 Sep 1;72(9):1581–1582.
