Treatment With Leflunomide in Patients With Polymyalgia Rheumatica

Summary

Over the last decades outcome has greatly improved for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (SpA). This is in sharp contrast to the situation for polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), with a lifetime prevalence of 2.4% for women and 1.7% for men, PMR is the commonest auto-inflammatory musculoskeletal disease in adults aged ≥50 years. Due to population ageing, the number of PMR patients will likely double in the decades to come (CBS). Glucocorticoids (GC) are the mainstay of treatment. However, there is an unmet medical need of alternatives in the treatment of PMR as 50% of patients will relapse or have difficulties to reduce the corticosteroid doses. Also, there is increasing awareness of steroid related toxicity and in addition, long-term toxicity is a well-known side-effect of glucocorticoids in PMR. Low dose methotrexate (\< 10 mg per week) has been tested in two blinded randomized control trials and 4 open label studies and has shown low to moderate efficacy as corticosteroid-sparing agent. Studies on tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blockers yielded negative results. The effectiveness of leflunomide has only been convincingly demonstrated in case series. The high rate of relapses and adverse events in steroid treated patients indicate that alternative adjuvant agents are needed. There is evidence that leflunomide could serve as steroid sparing agent and that leflunomide can be used to prevent relapses in the clinical management of polymyalgia rheumatica. We will perform a randomized placebo controlled trial. Eligible patients will be randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio receiving either leflunomide 20 mg once daily + glucocorticoids , or placebo + glucocorticoids.

Timeline

Start

2019-03-01

Primary completion

2022-11-01

Completion

2022-11-01

Publications

• Background Dasgupta B, Borg FA, Hassan N, Alexander L, Barraclough K, Bourke B, Fulcher J, Hollywood J, Hutchings A, James P, Kyle V, Nott J, Power M, Samanta A; BSR and BHPR Standards, Guidelines and Audit Working Group. BSR and BHPR guidelines for the management of giant cell arteritis. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2010 Aug;49(8):1594-7. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keq039a. Epub 2010 Apr 5. No abstract available.
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• Background Feinberg HL, Sherman JD, Schrepferman CG, Dietzen CJ, Feinberg GD. The use of methotrexate in polymyalgia rheumatica. J Rheumatol. 1996 Sep;23(9):1550-2.
• Background Caporali R, Cimmino MA, Ferraccioli G, Gerli R, Klersy C, Salvarani C, Montecucco C; Systemic Vasculitis Study Group of the Italian Society for Rheumatology. Prednisone plus methotrexate for polymyalgia rheumatica: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Ann Intern Med. 2004 Oct 5;141(7):493-500. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-141-7-200410050-00005.
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• Background Catanoso MG, Macchioni P, Boiardi L, Pipitone N, Salvarani C. Treatment of refractory polymyalgia rheumatica with etanercept: an open pilot study. Arthritis Rheum. 2007 Dec 15;57(8):1514-9. doi: 10.1002/art.23095.
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• Background Lally L, Forbess L, Hatzis C, Spiera R. Brief Report: A Prospective Open-Label Phase IIa Trial of Tocilizumab in the Treatment of Polymyalgia Rheumatica. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2016 Oct;68(10):2550-4. doi: 10.1002/art.39740.
• Background Devauchelle-Pensec V, Berthelot JM, Cornec D, Renaudineau Y, Marhadour T, Jousse-Joulin S, Querellou S, Garrigues F, De Bandt M, Gouillou M, Saraux A. Efficacy of first-line tocilizumab therapy in early polymyalgia rheumatica: a prospective longitudinal study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2016 Aug;75(8):1506-10. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2015-208742. Epub 2016 Feb 29.
• Background Adizie T, Christidis D, Dharmapaliah C, Borg F, Dasgupta B. Efficacy and tolerability of leflunomide in difficult-to-treat polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis: a case series. Int J Clin Pract. 2012 Sep;66(9):906-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1742-1241.2012.02981.x.
• Background Diamantopoulos AP, Hetland H, Myklebust G. Leflunomide as a corticosteroid-sparing agent in giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica: a case series. Biomed Res Int. 2013;2013:120638. doi: 10.1155/2013/120638. Epub 2013 Sep 11.
• Background Dasgupta B, Cimmino MA, Kremers HM, Schmidt WA, Schirmer M, Salvarani C, Bachta A, Dejaco C, Duftner C, Jensen HS, Duhaut P, Poor G, Kaposi NP, Mandl P, Balint PV, Schmidt Z, Iagnocco A, Nannini C, Cantini F, Macchioni P, Pipitone N, Del Amo M, Espigol-Frigole G, Cid MC, Martinez-Taboada VM, Nordborg E, Direskeneli H, Aydin SZ, Ahmed K, Hazleman B, Silverman B, Pease C, Wakefield RJ, Luqmani R, Abril A, Michet CJ, Marcus R, Gonter NJ, Maz M, Carter RE, Crowson CS, Matteson EL. 2012 Provisional classification criteria for polymyalgia rheumatica: a European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology collaborative initiative. Arthritis Rheum. 2012 Apr;64(4):943-54. doi: 10.1002/art.34356.
• Background Gran JT, Myklebust G. The incidence of polymyalgia rheumatica and temporal arteritis in the county of Aust Agder, south Norway: a prospective study 1987-94. J Rheumatol. 1997 Sep;24(9):1739-43.
• Background Kermani TA, Warrington KJ. Polymyalgia rheumatica. Lancet. 2013 Jan 5;381(9860):63-72. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60680-1. Epub 2012 Oct 8.
• Background Matteson EL, Maradit-Kremers H, Cimmino MA, Schmidt WA, Schirmer M, Salvarani C, Bachta A, Dejaco C, Duftner C, Slott Jensen H, Poor G, Kaposi NP, Mandl P, Balint PV, Schmidt Z, Iagnocco A, Cantini F, Nannini C, Macchioni P, Pipitone N, Del Amo M, Espigol-Frigole G, Cid MC, Martinez-Taboada VM, Nordborg E, Direskeneli H, Aydin SZ, Ahmed K, Hazelman B, Pease C, Wakefield RJ, Luqmani R, Abril A, Marcus R, Gonter NJ, Maz M, Crowson CS, Dasgupta B. Patient-reported outcomes in polymyalgia rheumatica. J Rheumatol. 2012 Apr;39(4):795-803. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.110977. Epub 2012 Mar 15.
• Background Dasgupta B, Borg FA, Hassan N, Barraclough K, Bourke B, Fulcher J, Hollywood J, Hutchings A, Kyle V, Nott J, Power M, Samanta A; BSR and BHPR Standards, Guidelines and Audit Working Group. BSR and BHPR guidelines for the management of polymyalgia rheumatica. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2010 Jan;49(1):186-90. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kep303a. Epub 2009 Nov 12. No abstract available.
• Background Dejaco C, Singh YP, Perel P, Hutchings A, Camellino D, Mackie S, Abril A, Bachta A, Balint P, Barraclough K, Bianconi L, Buttgereit F, Carsons S, Ching D, Cid M, Cimmino M, Diamantopoulos A, Docken W, Duftner C, Fashanu B, Gilbert K, Hildreth P, Hollywood J, Jayne D, Lima M, Maharaj A, Mallen C, Martinez-Taboada V, Maz M, Merry S, Miller J, Mori S, Neill L, Nordborg E, Nott J, Padbury H, Pease C, Salvarani C, Schirmer M, Schmidt W, Spiera R, Tronnier D, Wagner A, Whitlock M, Matteson EL, Dasgupta B; European League Against Rheumatism; American College of Rheumatology. 2015 recommendations for the management of polymyalgia rheumatica: a European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology collaborative initiative. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015 Oct;67(10):2569-80. doi: 10.1002/art.39333.
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