Persistence and effectiveness of the IL-12/23 pathway inhibitor ustekinumab or tumour necrosis factor inhibitor treatment in patients with psoriatic arthritis: 1-year results from the real-world PsABio Study

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated real-world treatment persistence and effectiveness at 1 year following initiation of IL-12/23 inhibitor ustekinumab or a tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) for psoriatic arthritis (PsA). METHODS: PsABio (NCT02627768), a prospective, observational study, followed patients with PsA prescribed first-line to third-line ustekinumab or TNFi. Drug persistence, effectiveness (achievement of clinical Disease Activity Index for Psoriatic Arthritis (cDAPSA) low disease activity (LDA)/remission and minimal disease activity/very low disease activity (MDA/VLDA)), and safety were assessed every 6 months. In addition to descriptive statistics, propensity score (PS)-adjusted comparisons across cohorts were performed. RESULTS: At 1 year, overall persistence was similar in the ustekinumab (n=317/438, 72.4%) and TNFi (n=321/455, 70.5%) groups. PS-adjusted HR (95% CI) for stopping/switching ustekinumab versus TNFi was 0.82 (0.60; 1.13). cDAPSA LDA (including remission)/remission was achieved in 55.9%/22.1% of ustekinumab-treated and 67.1%/31.7% of TNFi-treated patients; PS-adjusted ORs (95% CI) were 0.80 (0.57; 1.10) for cDAPSA LDA and 0.73 (0.49; 1.07) for remission. MDA/VLDA was achieved in 34.2%/11.9% of ustekinumab-treated and 43.1%/12.6% of TNFi-treated patients; PS-adjusted ORs (95% CI) were 0.89 (0.63; 1.26) for MDA and 0.90 (0.54; 1.49) for VLDA. The safety profiles were similar in both groups. CONCLUSION: In the real-world PsABio Study, after 1 year of treatment, although unadjusted persistence was numerically slightly higher for ustekinumab versus TNFi and unadjusted effectiveness was numerically slightly higher for TNFi versus ustekinumab, the PS-adjusted comparisons demonstrated comparable overall persistence, effectiveness and safety for both modes of action in PsA.