Effects of Adalimumab-adbm Versus Adalimumab Reference Product on Patient-Reported Outcomes in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Results from VOLTAIRE-RA.

Introduction: This post hoc analysis of VOLTAIRE-RA compared patient-reported outcomes, including health-related quality of life (HRQoL), in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before and after treatment with biosimilar adalimumab-adbm or adalimumab reference product.

Methods: HRQoL was assessed by 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) Physical and Mental Component Summary (PCS and MCS, respectively) and domain scores at baseline and weeks 12/24. Results were considered clinically meaningful if improvements were greater than or equal to minimum clinically important differences (MCIDs) of 2.5 for PCS and MCS and 5.0 for domain scores. Comparisons with age- and sex-matched norms and treatment-associated changes in domain scores from baseline were quantified using spydergrams and the health utility SF-6D measure. All comparisons between treatment groups were descriptive in nature.

Results: No differences in PCS scores were reported between treatment groups at baseline or weeks 12/24. MCS scores slightly favored the reference product group at baseline, and differences in scores at weeks 12/24 generally reflected those differences. Improvements in PCS scores greater than or equal to MCID at weeks 12/24 were reported by over 65% of patients in both treatment groups, while over 56% experienced improvements in MCS scores greater than or equal to MCID at weeks 12/24. Similar proportions receiving reference product and adalimumab-adbm reported scores greater than or equal to US age- and sex-matched normative values at week 24: 14-39% versus 15-36%, respectively, compared with baseline (1-17%).

Conclusion: In patients with moderate to severely active RA, adalimumab-adbm and adalimumab reference product were both associated with clinically meaningful improvements in SF-36 PCS, MCS, and domain scores that were highly similar at weeks 12/24. The high proportion of patients reporting scores greater than or equal to normative values in both treatment groups is notable, as this represents a treatment goal that was difficult to achieve in earlier RA trials. Video abstract available for this article.

Trial Registration: VOLTAIRE-RA (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02137226; EudraCT number, 2012-002945-40). Video abstract (MP4 29755 KB).