Baricitinib (LY3009104) at EULAR 2012 in Berlin

Baricitinib (also known as INCB28050, LY3009104) is an oral JAK1 and JAK2 inhibitor. Therapeutic claims include “autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, rheumatoid arthritis”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baricitinib and http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/usan/baricitinib.pdf).


At the EULAR 2012 in Berlin we only saw the late breaking poster, which sums up the study by E. Keystone and colleagues. The study was done to compare efficacy and safety of baricitinib versus placebo in patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis with inadequate response to methotrexate. This phase 2b study could demonstrate efficacy.


[LB0005] 12-WEEK RESULTS OF A PHASE 2B DOSE-RANGING STUDY OF LY3009104 (INCB028050), AN ORAL JAK1/JAK2 INHIBITOR, IN COMBINATION WITH TRADITIONAL DMARDS IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
E. Keystone1, P. Taylor2, M. Genovese3, D. Schlichting4, S. Beattie4, C. Gaich4, R. Fidelus Gort5, M. Luchi5, W.L. Macias4. 1Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada; 2Univ. of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; 3Stanford Univ., Palo Alto; 4Eli Lilly & Co, Indianapolis; 5Incyte Corp., Wilmington, United States
Conclusions: Clinical efficacy of LY against PBO was demonstrated in this Phase 2b study of LY in combination with background MTX in pts with moderate to severe RA. LY was well tolerated. No new safety signals were detected when compared to previously conducted studies with LY.
[LY = LY3009104 , baricitinib; PBO = placebo; MTX = methotrexate; RA =rheumatoid arthritis.]


This looks promising like other protein kinase inhibitors.