FRI0456 EARLY IMPLEMENTATION OF TREATMENT WITH ETANERCEPT INCREASES THE LIKELIHOOD TO ACHIEVE REMISSION
Authors: J. Klotsche, G. Horneff, P. Haas, I. Foeldvari, M. Niewerth, K. Minden
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2020)

Background: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease in children and adolescents. A consistent therapy is required to avoid consequential damage and permanent loss of function. Biologic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) provide a well-accepted option for treatment of patients with a severe course of JIA. Etanercept (ETA) is still the most commonly prescribed bDMARD for JIA in Germany. Objectives: To analyze adherence to treatment with ETA with special attention on discontinuation after achieving an inactive disease and recurrence of active disease after ETA withdrawal. Methods: Data from two ongoing prospective, multicenter, non-interventional registries BiKeR and JuMBO were used for the analysis. JuMBO is the follow-up study to BiKeR and follows patients who have reached the age of 18. Both registers provide treatment data, individual trajectories of clinical data and outcomes from childhood into adulthood in JIA patients treated with bDMARDs and csDMARDs. Clinical disease characteristics, such as disease activity, were reported by the rheumatologists in addition to patient-reported outcomes at each six-months follow-up. Remission was defined as inactive disease defined by the Wallace Criteria (1). Results: Data from 2,500 patients who were included in BiKeR and had an age ≥18 at the time of analysis were considered. A subset of 1,535 were enrolled in JuMBO. The mean follow-up was 8.6 (SD 4.2) years for the JuMBO patients. The majority of them had polyarthritis (35%), followed by enthesitis-related arthritis (20%). A total of 1,779 (68.8% of 2,584) patients were ever treated with ETA, providing 2,178 ETA treatment courses. There were 1,724 (67%) patients with first, 338 patients with a second and 54 with a third course of ETA treatment course. 710 (41.2%) discontinued ETA by ineffectiveness in the first course with similar rates of discontinuation due to ineffectiveness in the first and second course. A total of 332 (+/-MTX, 19.3%) discontinued ETA after achieving remission in the first ETA course. Among those, 129 (38.9%) patients did not require treatment with any other bDMARD subsequently until last follow-up (3.9 years, SD 3.5), while 169 (50.9%) re-started treatment with ETA, 14 (4.2%) with adalimumab and 4 with other bDMARDs. The likelihood of discontinuing ETA due to an inactive disease was positively associated with a younger age (hazard ratio (HR) 1.08, p&lt;0.001), persistent oligoarthritis (HR 1.89, p=0.004), a shorter duration between JIA onset and ETA start (HR 1.10, p&lt;0.001) as well as a good response to therapy within the first six months of treatment (HR 1.11, p&lt;0.001). 209 (of 332) had ETA monotherapy at withdrawal. Of those, 77% (n=161) experienced recurrence of disease with a mean time to flare of 12.1 (SD 13.7) months. 129 patients restarted bDMARD therapy (n=117 ETA). We could not identify any correlates for the risk of flare. 70% re-achieved remission and 20% again discontinued therapy thereafter. Conclusion: The study confirms the good effectiveness of ETA, even in the re-treatment of patients with JIA. Our data highlight the association of an early bDMARD treatment with a higher likelihood to achieve an inactive disease indicating a window of opportunity. References: [1]Wallace CA, Giannini EH, Huang B et al. American College of Rheumatology provisional criteria for defining clinical inactive disease in select categories of juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Arthritis Care Res 2011;63:929–36 Disclosure of Interests: Jens Klotsche: None declared, Gerd Horneff Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Chugai, Merck Sharp &amp; Dohme, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Speakers bureau: AbbVie, Bayer, Chugai, Merck Sharp &amp; Dohme, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Peter Haas: None declared, Ivan Foeldvari Consultant of: Novartis, Martina Niewerth: None declared, Kirsten Minden Consultant of: GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Speakers bureau: Roche