I’ve just noticed that
people have been interested in my article from 2013 “Olokizumab – any new
developments?” I therefore adopted the WIN (=what is new?) from the ACR meeting
sessions.
To tell the story in
short, let me begin a little bit earlier than at “what is new?”. As nothing on
olokizumab appeared at the EULAR meeting in Madrid in June 2013, I wondered:
“Nothing! / Very strange as olokizumab targets interleukin-6 (IL-6). …
Postponed or abandoned?” In July 2013 there had been an announcement by UCB:
“UCB out-licenses RA drug olokizumab to Russia's R-Pharm”.
In 2014 I thought that
olokizumab had been abandoned as nothing had been published at the EULAR 2014
Meeting in Paris.
MC Genovese and colleagues
published: “Efficacy and safety of olokizumab in patients with rheumatoid
arthritis with an inadequate response to TNF inhibitor therapy: outcomes of a
randomised Phase IIb study” in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2014).
MC Genovese and colleagues
(other group of researchers) published at the ACR 2015 Meeting in San
Francisco: “Long-Term Safety and Efficacy of Olokizumab in Patients with
Moderate-to-Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis Who Have Previously Failed Anti-TNF
Treatment“. The researchers looked at data from Western and Asian patients. Conclusion:
“OKZ [OLOKIZUMAB] was well-tolerated, with an expected safety profile for this
class of agent. Reductions in disease activity were sustained to Wk48. These
results support the development of OKZ for the treatment of moderate-to-severe
RA in Western and Asian pts.”
These recent studies aren’t so interesting in the results, but still
there is a story being told. UCB still hasn’t given up and keeps a low fire
burning. I doubt that olokizumab will be approved as a drug against rheumatoid
arthritis.
References:
Olokizumab – any new
developments?
UCB out-licenses RA drug
olokizumab to Russia's R-Pharm
Newer Biologics at the
EULAR 2014 Meeting in Paris
Genovese MC, Fleischmann
R, Furst D , Janssen N , Carter J, Dasgupta B , Bryson J , Duncan B, Zhu W,
Pitzalis C, Durez P, Kretsos K. Efficacy and safety of olokizumab in patients
with rheumatoid arthritis with an inadequate response to TNF inhibitor therapy:
outcomes of a randomised Phase IIb study. Ann
Rheum Dis. 2014 Sep;73(9):1607-15. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2013-204760.
Epub 2014 Mar 18. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24641941
Genovese MC, Fleischmann
R, Tanaka Y, Furst DE, Yamanaka H, Joshi R, Zhu W, Shao J, Mashimo H, Takeuchi
T. Long-Term Safety and Efficacy of Olokizumab in Patients with
Moderate-to-Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis Who Have Previously Failed Anti-TNF
Treatment [abstract]. Arthritis
Rheumatol. 2015; 67 (suppl 10). http://acrabstracts.org/abstract/long-term-safety-and-efficacy-of-olokizumab-in-patients-with-moderate-to-severe-rheumatoid-arthritis-who-have-previously-failed-anti-tnf-treatment/.
Accessed February 17, 2016.
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