Friday, June 27, 2014

Sirukumab at the EULAR 2014 in Paris


Two years ago, I’ve already posted about sirukumab (formerly known as CNTO 136), which is a human anti-IL-6 MAB. B. Hsu and colleagues presented a phase 2 study. I asked myself, if there is a market for sirukumab in rheumatoid arthritis, as tocilizumab is already there (and now with an SC option) sirukumab needs methotrexate as co-medication.
At the EULAR 2014 Meeting in Paris there hasn’t been a study on sirukumab on rheumatoid arthritis. But there has been a study on lupus nephritis.

[OP0047]
R. van Vollenhoven and colleagues presented a study: “A PHASE 2, MULTICENTER, RANDOMIZED, DOUBLE-BLIND, PLACEBO-CONTROLLED, PROOF-OF-CONCEPT STUDY TO EVALUATE THE EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF SIRUKUMAB IN PATIENTS WITH ACTIVE LUPUS NEPHRITIS”. Conclusions: IL-6 inhibition with sirukumab in pts with active lupus nephritis did not result in a median improvement in proteinuria, however approximately 15-20% of treated patients did show a notable reduction in proteinuria. A high frequency of serious adverse events was observed in this population of immunosuppressed patients with refractory lupus nephritis.” Read between the lines. Sirukumab doesn’t seem to be doing good job.

Does this dim the outlook for sirukumab? Maybe not. The SIRROUND-LTE study on long-term safety and efficacy of sirukumab in rheumatoid arthritis (a phase 3 study) is still recruiting. Therefore we still have to wait, even if there wasn’t new data at the EULAR 2014 Meeting.

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