Absence of association between abatacept exposure levels and initial infection in patients with RA: a post hoc analysis of the randomized, placebo-controlled AVERT-2 study

Authors: Emery P, Fleischmann R, Wong R, Lozenski K, Tanaka Y, Bykerk V, Bingham CO, Huizinga TWJ, Citera G, Elbez Y, Perera V, Murthy B, Fellows Maxwell K, Passarell JA, Hedrich W, Williams D
Conference: EULAR
Keywords: abatacept, AVERT-2, RA, rheumatoid arthritis
Division: Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacometrics (CPP)

Infections are the most commonly reported AEs in patients with RA treated with immunosuppressive therapies, and they can be clinically significant
• A recent review reported differences in the risk of infection for some biologics such as tocilizumab and TNF inhibitors1
• Abatacept selectively modulates T-cell co-stimulation and is approved for the treatment of RA
• In patients with polyarticular-course juvenile idiopathic arthritis, no association was found between higher serum abatacept exposure and the incidence of infection2
— This has not been evaluated for adult patients with RA

By: Paul Emery, Roy Fleischmann, Robert Wong, Karissa Lozenski, Yoshiya Tanaka, Vivian Bykerk, Clifton O Bingham, Thomas WJ Huizinga, Gustavo Citera, Yedid Elbez, Vidya Perera, Bindu Murthy, Kelly Maxwell, Julie Passarell, William Hedrich, and Daphne Williams.

Poster presented at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR); June 1 – 4, 2022; Copenhagen, Denmark.