Enbrel monotherapy/combination superior to methotrexate monotherapy for treat psoriatic arthritis. - Amgen

Amgen announced that positive results from the Phase III methotrexate monotherapy in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) were presented in a late-breaking poster session at the 2018 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/ Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ARHP) Annual Meeting in Chicago , Oct. 19-24, 2018 . This study was undertaken to address key knowledge gaps regarding the optimal use of methotrexate and TNF inhibitors such as Enbrel in patients with early disease who have not previously received treatment with biologics and methotrexate for PsA.

Results showed that a significantly higher proportion of patients on Enbrel monotherapy and on combination therapy achieved the primary endpoint of ACR 20 response compared with patients on methotrexate monotherapy (60.9 percent [p=0.029] and 65.0 percent [p=0.005] versus 50.7 percent, respectively). A significantly higher proportion of patients on Enbrel monotherapy and on combination therapy also achieved Minimal Disease Activity (MDA), a PsA-specific composite measure and a key secondary endpoint, compared with patients on methotrexate monotherapy (35.9 percent [p=0.005] and 35.7 percent [p=0.005] versus 22.9 percent, respectively). Patients on Enbrel monotherapy and on combination therapy also had greater responses on additional secondary endpoints of ACR 50 and ACR 70 compared with patients on methotrexate monotherapy (ACR 50: 44.4 percent (p=0.006), 45.7 percent (p<0.001) versus 30.6 percent acr 70: 29.2 percent p><0.001), 27.7 percent p><0.001) versus 13.8 percent p values are unadjusted. overall while not evaluated in prespecified analyses the results of adding methotrexate to enbrel in combination therapy were similar to the results with enbrel monotherapy with the exception of some differences in skin-related endpoints.>