A Retrospective Cohort Study on the Risk of Serious Infections in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Receiving Tocilizumab

Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Trial

Official title:

A Retrospective Cohort Study to Examine the Risk of Serious Infections in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Receiving Tocilizumab Compared With Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitors Using the National Health Insurance Database

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Active, not recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04115423
• Other study ID #: SKKU-2019-TCZ
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Start date: April 1, 2020
• Est. completion date: October 1, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: September 2020
• Source: Sungkyunkwan University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the risk of serious infections in rheumatoid arthritis patients with tocilizumab is higher than in those with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors using the nationwide real-world data.

Description:

This observational, retrospective cohort study using the Korean National Health Insurance (NHI) data will evaluate whether the risk of serious infections (SIs) in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with tocilizumab is higher than in those with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors. We will compare incidence rates between two groups and estimate relative risks of SIs in tocilizumab users using the time-dependent Cox proportional hazard regression. Various covariates potentially related to RA severity and occurrence of infection will be assessed and used for adjustment.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Enrollment: 9508
• Est. completion date: October 1, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: October 1, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Individuals who had a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (ICD-10 codes: M05-06) between 2013 and 2018

Exclusion Criteria:

• Individuals less than 18 years of age

• Having no records of prescription of tocilizumab or TNFi at least once between 2013 and 2018

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Arthritis
• Arthritis, Rheumatoid
• Communicable Diseases
• Infection
• Rheumatoid Arthritis

Intervention

Drug:
• Tocilizumab
A humanized monoclonal antibody against the interleukin-6 receptor, which is mainly for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
• Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitor (etanercept, infliximab, adalimumab, and golimumab)
Tumor Necrosis Factor inhibitors (TNFi) are a group of medicines that suppresses the physiologic response to TNF, a protein involved in early inflammatory events. We will include etanercept, infliximab, adalimumab, and golimumab as TNFis since these drugs are commercialized in Korea.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Korea, Republic of	Sungkyunkwan University	Suwon	Gyeonggi-do

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Sungkyunkwan University	Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Korea

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Korea, Republic of, 

References & Publications (10)

Grøn KL, Arkema EV, Glintborg B, Mehnert F, Østergaard M, Dreyer L, Nørgaard M, Krogh NS, Askling J, Hetland ML; ARTIS Study Group. Risk of serious infections in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated in routine care with abatacept, rituximab and tocilizumab in Denmark and Sweden. Ann Rheum Dis. 2019 Mar;78(3):320-327. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-214326. Epub 2019 Jan 5. — View Citation

Jones G, Panova E. New insights and long-term safety of tocilizumab in rheumatoid arthritis. Ther Adv Musculoskelet Dis. 2018 Oct 7;10(10):195-199. doi: 10.1177/1759720X18798462. eCollection 2018 Oct. Review. — View Citation

Nishimoto N, Ito K, Takagi N. Safety and efficacy profiles of tocilizumab monotherapy in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis: meta-analysis of six initial trials and five long-term extensions. Mod Rheumatol. 2010 Jun;20(3):222-32. doi: 10.1007/s10165-010-0279-5. Epub 2010 Mar 11. — View Citation

Pawar A, Desai RJ, Solomon DH, Santiago Ortiz AJ, Gale S, Bao M, Sarsour K, Schneeweiss S, Kim SC. Risk of serious infections in tocilizumab versus other biologic drugs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a multidatabase cohort study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2019 Apr;78(4):456-464. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-214367. Epub 2019 Jan 24. — View Citation

Ramiro S, Sepriano A, Chatzidionysiou K, Nam JL, Smolen JS, van der Heijde D, Dougados M, van Vollenhoven R, Bijlsma JW, Burmester GR, Scholte-Voshaar M, Falzon L, Landewé RBM. Safety of synthetic and biological DMARDs: a systematic literature review informing the 2016 update of the EULAR recommendations for management of rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2017 Jun;76(6):1101-1136. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-210708. Epub 2017 Mar 15. Review. — View Citation

Rutherford AI, Subesinghe S, Hyrich KL, Galloway JB. Serious infection across biologic-treated patients with rheumatoid arthritis: results from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register for Rheumatoid Arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2018 Jun;77(6):905-910. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2017-212825. Epub 2018 Mar 28. — View Citation

Sakai R, Cho SK, Nanki T, Watanabe K, Yamazaki H, Tanaka M, Koike R, Tanaka Y, Saito K, Hirata S, Amano K, Nagasawa H, Sumida T, Hayashi T, Sugihara T, Dobashi H, Yasuda S, Sawada T, Ezawa K, Ueda A, Fujii T, Migita K, Miyasaka N, Harigai M; REAL Study Group. Head-to-head comparison of the safety of tocilizumab and tumor necrosis factor inhibitors in rheumatoid arthritis patients (RA) in clinical practice: results from the registry of Japanese RA patients on biologics for long-term safety (REAL) registry. Arthritis Res Ther. 2015 Mar 23;17:74. doi: 10.1186/s13075-015-0583-8. — View Citation

Singh JA, Hossain A, Tanjong Ghogomu E, Mudano AS, Maxwell LJ, Buchbinder R, Lopez-Olivo MA, Suarez-Almazor ME, Tugwell P, Wells GA. Biologics or tofacitinib for people with rheumatoid arthritis unsuccessfully treated with biologics: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 Mar 10;3:CD012591. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012591. Review. — View Citation

Singh JA. Infections With Biologics in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Related Conditions: a Scoping Review of Serious or Hospitalized Infections in Observational Studies. Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2016 Oct;18(10):61. doi: 10.1007/s11926-016-0609-5. Review. — View Citation

Yun H, Xie F, Delzell E, Levitan EB, Chen L, Lewis JD, Saag KG, Beukelman T, Winthrop KL, Baddley JW, Curtis JR. Comparative Risk of Hospitalized Infection Associated With Biologic Agents in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Enrolled in Medicare. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2016 Jan;68(1):56-66. doi: 10.1002/art.39399. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Hazard ratio for serious infections	The ratio of the hazard rates of the serious infections in tocilizumab initiators vs. TNFi users	January 2013 to December 2018
Secondary	Hazard ratio for six subdivided groups of serious infections by organ class	The ratio of the hazard rates of six subdivided organ-specific serious infections (respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, urological and gynecological infections, skin and subcutaneous tissue, sepsis, and others) in tocilizumab initiators vs. TNFi users	January 2013 to December 2018