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Background Hypereosinophilic syndromes (HES) are chronic disorders that require long-term therapy to suppress eosinophilia and clinical manifestations. Corticosteroids are usually effective, yet many patients become corticosteroid-refractory or develop corticosteroid toxicity. Mepolizumab, a humanised monoclonal anti-interleukin-5 antibody, demonstrated corticosteroid-sparing effects in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of FIP1L1/PDGFRA-negative, corticosteroid-responsive subjects with HES. Objective To evaluate long-term safety and efficacy of mepolizumab (750 mg) in HES. Methods MHE100901 is an open-label extension study. The primary endpoint was the frequency of adverse events (AEs). Optimal dosing frequency, corticosteroid-sparing effect of mepolizumab, and development of anti-mepolizumab antibodies were also explored. Results Seventy-eight subjects received 1–66 mepolizumab infusions each (including mepolizumab infusions received in the placebo-controlled trial). Mean exposure was 251 weeks (range 4–302). The most common dosing interval was 9–12 weeks. The incidence of AEs was 932 events per 100 subject-years in the first year, declining to 461 events per 100 subject-years after 48 months. Serious AEs, including one death, were reported by the investigator as possibly due to mepolizumab in three subjects. The median daily prednisone dose decreased from 20.0 to 0 mg in the first 24 weeks. The median average daily dose for all subjects over the course of the study was 1.8 mg. Sixty-two percent of subjects were prednisone-free without other HES medications for ≥12 consecutive weeks. No neutralizing antibodies were detected. Twenty-four subjects withdrew prior to study completion for death (n=4), lack of efficacy (n=6), or other reasons. Conclusion Mepolizumab was well tolerated and effective as a long-term corticosteroid-sparing agent in PDGFRA-negative HES.

While these large-scale, robust studies demonstrated that rosiglitazone is not active in psoriasis, they also showed that for a large proportion of subjects receiving placebo, the expectation of a successful treatment, the favorable adverse effect profile of the drug, and the supportive environment of a clinical study conferred beneficial effects. These results may have implications for the design of future placebo-controlled studies in patients with psoriasis.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs interfere with certain antihypertensive therapies. In a double-blind study, 385 hypertensive patients stabilized on an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor were treated with nabumetone, celecoxib, ibuprofen, or placebo for 4 weeks. Ibuprofen caused significantly greater increases in systolic (P < .001) and diastolic (P < .01) blood pressures (BPs) compared to placebo, but not nabumetone or celecoxib. The proportion of patients with systolic BP increases of clinical concern at end point was significantly higher (P < .001) for the ibuprofen group (16.7%; 15 of 90), but not for the nabumetone group (5.5%; 5 of 91) or the celecoxib group (4.6%; 4 of 87) compared to the placebo group (1.1%; 1 of 91).

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