Key clinical point: Abatacept showed similar efficacy and safety in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with vs without previous malignancies and did not increase the risk for malignancy or relapse.
Major finding: Patients with RA with and without previous malignancies had no significant differences in the disease activity scores for 28 Joints based on C-reactive protein (up to 60 months after initiating abatacept; P = .36), 10-year abatacept continuation rates ( P = .70), and the incidence rates of malignancies after initiating abatacept (adjusted hazard ratio 0.99; P = 1.00).
Study details: This retrospective study included 312 patients with RA who received abatacept, of whom 23.4% patients had previous malignancies when initiating abatacept.
Disclosures: This study was partly supported by JSPS KAKENHI and the Japan Rheumatism Foundation. Y Kunishita declared receiving personal fees from Bristol-Myers K.K. and Eisai, which are unrelated to this study. The other authors did not report any conflicts of interest.
Source: Kunishita Y et al. Efficacy and safety of abatacept in patients with rheumatoid arthritis with previous malignancy. Ther Adv Musculoskelet Dis. 2023;15 (Aug 1). doi: 10.1177/1759720X231186874