ObjectiveTo evaluate the long-term safety profile for upadacitinib across rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and atopic dermatitis (AD).MethodsSafety data from clinical trials of upadacitinib 15 mg and upadacitinib 30 mg (AD only) for treating RA, PsA, AS and AD as of 30 June 2021 were analysed; some RA and PsA studies included adalimumab and methotrexate as active comparators. Treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) were presented by disease as exposure-adjusted event rates per 100 patient years (E/100 PY).ResultsThe analysis included 6991 patients (RA, n=3209; PsA, n=907; AS, n=182; AD, n=2693) who received at least one dose of upadacitinib, representing 15 425 PY of exposure (maximum duration 2.75–5.45 years) across diseases. Rates (E/100 PY) of any TEAE (205.5–278.1) and TEAE leading to discontinuation (4.5–5.4) were similar across diseases; serious TEAEs were numerically higher in patients with RA and PsA. Rates of herpes zoster (1.6–3.6), non-melanoma skin cancer (0–0.8) and elevations in creatine phosphokinase levels (4.4–7.9) were higher with upadacitinib than with active comparators in the RA and PsA populations. Deaths (0–0.8), serious infections (0–3.9), major adverse cardiovascular events (0–0.4), venous thromboembolism (<0.1–0.4) and malignancies (0.3–1.4) were observed, with rates generally lowest in AS and AD. Increased rates of acne were observed in patients with AD only.ConclusionsFindings from this analysis demonstrate that upadacitinib is generally well tolerated with observed differences in safety profiles likely reflective of varying patient characteristics across RA, PsA, AS and AD populations.Trial registration numbersNCT02675426,NCT02706951,NCT02706847,NCT02629159,NCT02706873,NCT03086343,NCT03104374,NCT03104400,NCT03178487,NCT03569293,NCT03568318andNCT03607422.

Baricitinib is an oral, selective inhibitor of Janus kinase (JAK)1/JAK2 that transiently and reversibly inhibits many proinflammatory cytokines. This mechanism is a key mediator in a number of chronic inflammatory diseases; accordingly, baricitinib has been studied and approved for the treatment of several rheumatological and dermatological disorders, as well as COVID-19. This narrative review summarises and discusses the safety profile of baricitinib across these diseases, with special focus on adverse events of special interest (AESI) for JAK inhibitors, using integrated safety data sets of clinical trial data, and puts findings into context with the underlying risk in the respective disease populations, using supporting literature. We show that rates of infection with baricitinib generally reflected the inherent risk of the disease populations being treated, with serious infections and herpes zoster being more frequent in rheumatic diseases than in dermatological disorders, and herpes simplex being reported particularly in atopic dermatitis. Similarly, rates of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), venous thromboembolism (VTE) and malignancies were generally within or below the ranges reported for the respective disease populations, thereby reflecting the underlying risk; these events were therefore more frequent in patients with rheumatic diseases than in those with dermatological disorders, the latter of whom generally had low absolute risk. AESI were usually more common in patients with risk factors specific for each event. When a population similar to that of ORAL Surveillance was considered, the incidence rate of MACE with baricitinib was numerically lower than that reported with tofacitinib and similar to that of tumour necrosis factor inhibitors. No safety concerns were observed in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 who received baricitinib for up to 14 days. Identifying the patterns and likelihoods of AEs that occur during treatment in large groups of patients with different diseases can help the physician and patient better contextualise the benefit-to-risk ratio for the individual patient.

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Extensive lymphatic malformations (LMs) of the head and neck region may require tracheostomy to secure the airway. Treatment of these life-threatening LMs is usually multimodal and includes sclerotherapy and surgery, among others. Recently, systemic therapy with sirolimus has been introduced as an effective treatment for venous and lymphatic malformations; its efficacy and safety profile in patients with extensive LM requiring tracheostomy are, however, as yet not fully known. We performed a retrospective, multicenter review and identified 13 patients with an extensive LM of the head and neck region, who previously underwent placement of tracheostomy and subsequently received sirolimus treatment with the aim to improve the local respiratory situation and remove the tracheostomy. Under sirolimus therapy, tracheostomy could be reversed in 8/13 (62%) patients, a further 2/13 (15%) patients improved markedly, and removal of the tracheostomy was planned at the time of writing, while 3/13 (23%) patients showed insufficient or absent response to sirolimus, rendering tracheostomy reversal not feasible. The median duration of sirolimus treatment until removal of tracheostomy was 18 months (range, 8 months to 5.6 years). Adverse events of sirolimus therapy were common [10/13 (77%) patients], yet the majority of these were mild [9/10 (90%) patients] and only one severe adverse event was recorded, with ulceration and necrosis at a catheter insertion site. In conclusion, sirolimus can be considered an effective and safe salvage treatment in patients with extensive LM even after placement of a tracheostomy, as closure of the latter was possible in the majority of patients (62%) of our retrospective cohort. A better understanding of when to start sirolimus therapy, of the duration of treatment, and of factors allowing the prediction of treatment response will require further investigation.

Background Atopic dermatitis (AD) is associated with an increased risk for viral infections including those caused by herpes simplex virus and varicella zoster virus. Objectives This study examined treatment‐emergent (TE) herpes simplex infection including eczema herpeticum (EH), and herpes zoster (HZ), in adult patients with AD receiving ≥1 dose of baricitinib (BARI), an oral selective inhibitor of Janus kinase 1/2. Methods We evaluated data from six double‐blinded, randomized, placebo‐controlled (PC) trials and two long‐term extension studies, within three analysis sets: PC, 2–4‐mg BARI extended and All‐BARI‐AD. Frequency, incidence rate (IR)/100 person‐years (PYs) and clinical characteristics of TE‐herpes simplex, EH and HZ were reported. Results In the All‐BARI‐AD dataset (n = 2531; 2247 PYs), herpes simplex was reported in 8.9% of patients (n = 224; IR = 10.3). Most herpes simplex events were rated as mild or moderate (93.3%), rarely led to permanent discontinuation (2.2%) and presented mostly as oral/perioral herpes simplex (51.3%). TE‐EH occurred at a low frequency (All‐BARI‐AD 1.7% n = 43; IR = 2.0) and were reported in 0.5%, 0.2% and 1.4% of patients receiving placebo, 2‐mg or 4‐mg BARI respectively. In the All‐BARI‐AD dataset, most events were investigator‐rated as mild/moderate (79.1%), affected ≤2% of the body surface area (74.2%) and occurred as single events (88.4%). Serious TE‐EH (n = 11) occurred exclusively in patients with poor disease control (vIGA‐AD™ score ≥3) at infection onset. TE‐HZ was reported in 2.1% of BARI patients (n = 53; IR = 2.3), without a dose relationship during the PC period (IR = 2.7 and IR = 0.0) or the extended dataset (IR = 3.7 and IR = 1.7) for 2‐ or 4‐mg BARI respectively. Conclusions TE‐herpes simplex was common, while occurrence of EH was uncommon. Most events of EH were localized with involvement of a small BSA and were linked to poor disease control. Events of HZ were rare in the PC dataset and without a dose dependent increase in frequency.