Aurora Rheumatology and Immunotherapy Center in Franklin, Wisconsin, has joined a clinical trial that will directly compare two commercially available treatments for rheumatoid arthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common type of autoimmune arthritis. Approximately 1.3 million Americans suffer from the disease, about 75% of whom are women.
The disease arises when a person’s immune system, which is supposed to protect them from disease and infection, begins attacking the lining of the joints. This can cause pain and swelling in the joints – often in the wrists, hands and feet, but also in larger joints and even in organs, such as the eyes and lungs.
“Advancements in research have led to the recent development of multiple drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis,” said rheumatologist Alvin Wells, MD, Advocate Aurora Research Institute’s principal investigator for the study. “Doctors now hope to zero in on which of these treatment regimens lead to better outcomes for specific patients.”
The study will compare the drugs upadacitinib and adalimumab in people who are on the drug methotrexate but still have active rheumatoid arthritis. Participants in the study must have already had an inadequate response or intolerance to treatment with a type of drug called a tumor necrosis factor blocker.
The clinical trial is randomized and double-blinded, meaning participants will be randomly assigned to receive either drug, and neither they nor their doctor will know which they received until after the study has completed.
Researchers plan to enroll 480 participants in the study at sites throughout the world.
Adalimumab has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis for more than 20 years. Upadacitinib was approved by the FDA for the same purpose in 2019.
“The Research Institute and Dr. Wells are proud to participate in clinical trials like this that will directly and immediately inform the care provided by our physicians,” said Laura Wrona, MSN, director of the Research Institute’s specialty clinical trials.
The clinical trial, “Study to assess change in disease activity and adverse events of oral upadacitinib compared to subcutaneous adalimumab in adult participants with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (SELECT-SWITCH),” is sponsored by AbbVie, manufacturer of both upadacitinib and adalimumab.
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