Variability in Antinuclear Antibody Testing to Assess Patient Eligibility for Clinical Trials of Novel Treatments for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Objective: In the development of novel therapies for systemic lupus erythematosus, antinuclear antibody (ANA) positivity represents a criterion for trial eligibility. Since as many as 30% of patients enrolled in trials have been ANA negative, we evaluated the performance characteristics of immunofluorescence assays (IFAs) for ANA determinations for screening.

Methods: This study used 5 commercially available IFAs to assess the ANA status of 181 patients enrolled in a phase II clinical trial for an anti-interleukin-6 antibody.

Efficacy and safety of an interleukin 6 monoclonal antibody for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus: a phase II dose-ranging randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: This phase II trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of an interleukin (IL) 6 monoclonal antibody for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: Patients with active disease were randomised to placebo or PF-04236921 10 mg, 50 mg or 200 mg, subcutaneously, every 8 weeks with stable background therapy. SLE Responder Index (SRI-4; primary end point) and British Isles Lupus Assessment Group-based Composite Lupus Assessment (BICLA) were assessed at week 24.

Two-year Efficacy and Safety of Etanercept in Pediatric Patients with Extended Oligoarthritis, Enthesitis-related Arthritis, or Psoriatic Arthritis.

Objective: The main objective was to determine the 2-year clinical benefit and safety of etanercept (ETN) in children with the juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) categories of extended oligoarthritis (eoJIA), enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA), or psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

Methods: CLIPPER was a 96-week, phase IIIb, open-label, multicenter study. Patients with eoJIA, ERA, or PsA received ETN 0.

Clinical and MRI responses to etanercept in early non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis: 48-week results from the EMBARK study.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of etanercept (ETN) after 48 weeks in patients with early active non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA).

Methods: Patients meeting Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society (ASAS) classification criteria for axSpA, but not modified New York radiographic criteria, received double-blind ETN 50 mg/week or placebo (PBO) for 12 weeks, then open-label ETN (ETN/ETN or PBO/ETN). Clinical, health, productivity, MRI and safety outcomes were assessed and the 48-week data are presented here.

Symptomatic efficacy of etanercept and its effects on objective signs of inflammation in early nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis: a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Objective: To assess the efficacy of etanercept in the treatment of early active nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID)-refractory nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis (SpA).

Methods: The study population consisted of patients who met the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society (ASAS) classification criteria for axial SpA but not the modified New York radiographic criteria for ankylosing spondylitis (as assessed by a radiologist at the central trial site), had a symptom duration of >3 months but <5 years, had a score of ≥4 on the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index, and had been treated unsuccessfully with ≥2 NSAIDs. Patients were randomized to receive etanercept 50 mg/week or placebo and continued background NSAID treatment for 12 weeks (double-blind study); during the subsequent open-label period, all patients received etanercept 50 mg/week.