Background There is growing evidence for tapering biologic therapies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in sustained clinical remission to avoid overtreatment and minimise side-effects. Ultrasound assessment for subclinical synovitis adds to clinical assessment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis suitable for tapering biologic therapies. Our primary objective was to combine clinical and ultrasound assessment to select patients with rheumatoid arthritis for tapering biologic therapies in routine clinical practice. The secondary objectives were to identify predictors for successful tapering and assess the cost savings to the local health economy by optimising the use of high cost drugs. Methods All patients with rheumatoid arthritis on a biologic therapy for 2 years and in sustained clinical remission (DAS28≤2.6) over the previous year were seen in the remission clinic. They had an Ultrasound scan of the small joints of the hands, wrists and other symptomatic joints. Patients with no activity on Power Doppler were advised to lengthen the interval of their biologic therapy gradually and were followed once every 3 months. Patients were not on oral steroids but continued conventional DMARDs. Patients had a dedicated helpline if they had a flare. Results Ninety-three of the 120 patients with rheumatoid arthritis on biologic therapy seen in the biologic remission clinic between January and October 2019 were eligible and all but one agreed to taper. They were 70% female with a mean age of 62.8 years and mean duration of disease 14.6 years. Their mean duration of biologic therapy was 6.3 years; mean baseline DAS28 was 6.3 pre-biologic therapy and 1.7 before tapering. Fifty-seven of the patients were on a TNF inhibitor and 35 were on other biologic therapies. Forty of the ninety-two patients were co-prescribed DMARDs. Screening failure was due to clinical activity in 13 patients, Ultrasound Power Doppler activity in 23 patients, interstitial lung disease in 2 patients and shoulder surgery in one. Only two of the 40 patients who had completed 6 months had a flare and reverted to the baseline frequency. Of the remaining 52 patients, 22 patients had completed 3 months at the tapered dose and 3 patients who were in the initial 3 months had a flare and reverted to the baseline frequency. Initial drug-cost savings at 6 months was approximately £45,000. Conclusion Tapering of biologic therapies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis is feasible in routine clinical practice. Ultrasound is helpful to stratify patients for biologic tapering and has enabled a higher proportion of patients to remain in remission after tapering. Disclosures H. Pillai: None. N. Nolkha: None. A. Yau: None. S. Matthews: None. A. Hall: None. G. Hirsch: None. S. Venkatachalam: None.
Background/Aims Tapering biologic therapies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is evolving. Our primary objective was to combine clinical and ultrasound assessment in selecting patients with RA for tapering biologic therapies. The secondary objectives were to identify predictors for failure and cost savings. Methods RA patients on biologics in sustained clinical remission (defined as DAS 28 < 2.6) in the previous year and imaging remission (defined as Power Doppler US of small joints of hands not significant) were included. The patients were seen in a multidisciplinary clinic with an advanced pharmacy practitioner between April 2019 and March 2022. They were advised to lengthen the interval of their biologics gradually and were followed quarterly till September 2022. Failure was defined as reverting to previous regime at any point during follow up. Independent predictors of failure were identified with Cox multiple regression analysis SPSS v29.0 (IBM 2022). Results Biologics were tapered in 184 patients including 129 on anti-cytokine therapy (abatacept 13, adalimumab 35, certolizumab 31, etanercept 18, golimumab 8, infliximab 4, tocilizumab 20) and 55 on rituximab. The mean age of the cohort was 63.8±11.7 years and there were 72.3% females. The mean duration of RA was 15.2 ± 7.9 years and baseline DAS28 before taper was 1.93±1.04 years. Concomitant DMARDs were used in 53.8%. Anti-cytokine therapy:Over 287.9 patient-years follow up (mean follow up duration: 26.8 ± 14.1 months), taper failure occurred in 36 (27.9%) patients in a mean time of 12.0 ± 8.1 months. There was no statistically significant difference in failure rate between different agents. A 50% dose reduction could be achieved in 65 (50.4%) patients with the mean time to achieve it of 10.4 ±9.1 months. Thirteen (10.1%) patients stopped biologics completely. Current smoking [HR:3.67 95%CI:1.50-9.00, p:0.04] and higher DAS28 at initiation of taper [HR:1.93 95%CI:1.11-3.36, p:0.020] were predictive of taper failure. All but 3 of the 36 patients who failed taper, responded on reverting to their previous treatment regime. Anti B-cell therapy:The 55 patients on Rituximab were tapered to a lower dose or had their interval lengthened. Over 98.6 patient-years follow up (mean follow up: 21.5 ± 11.3 months). Mean dose reduction achieved was 62.2 ± 19.9 %. Mean interval between RTX infusions was 12.9 ± 6.4 months. We have managed to save nearly £800,000 over the 3 years with tapering of biologics in this cohort of RA patients compared to the standard dose. Conclusion Successful tapering of biologic therapies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis is feasible and safe in majority of patients who are in clinical and imaging remission. Current smoking and baseline high DAS28 predicted taper failure for anti-cytokine biologics. This can be safely managed by reverting to the original dosing in most patients. Disclosure H. Muhammed VK: None. A. Yau: None. G. Hirsch: None. T. Sheeran: None. S. Venkatachalam: None.
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