Roche's MabThera more effective than repeat TNF blocker

New data presented at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress of Rheumatology, held in Paris, France, calls into question the practice of putting rheumatoid arthritis patients onto a second tumor necrosis factor inhibitor therapy when they do not respond to the first one.

The study was conducted among 300 patients who had previously not responded to anti-TNF treatment. It analyzed the improvement in the disease activity score (DAS28) of patients on Roche's MabThera (rituximab) compared to those on an alternative TNF inhibitor. Data at six months showed that the Swiss drug major's drug achieved a significantly larger reduction in disease activity (DAS28) than a subsequent TNF inhibitor in patients who had interrupted TNF inhibitor therapy due to lack of efficacy (reduction in DAS28 by 1.55 versus 1.03).

Drugs that target the inflammatory mediator, TNF-alpha, have helped revolutionize RA treatment, but are not adequately effective in up to 40% of patients. "These findings are significant because they confirm the benefit of switching to an alternative biological agent, such as rituximab, in the subset of RA patients who don't respond to a first anti-TNF agent," said Axel Finckh, from the Rheumatology Division at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. "In patients with persistent active disease despite anti-TNF therapy, our data suggest that switching to rituximab is more effective than switching to an alternative anti-TNF agent," he added.