Disease remission and sustained remission after etanercept biosimilar or originator initiation in rheumatoid arthritis: an interim real-world analysis

Abstract

We compared time to first remission and prevalence of sustained remission in participants with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) initiating etanercept biosimilar (ETA-B) or originator (ETA-O). We studied etanercept-naive participants with RA from four Canadian prospective cohorts who initiated ETA-B or ETA-O (Jan/2015-May/2022). Disease remission was determined using disease activity scales. Sustained remission was defined as at least two consecutive visits in remission within the first 12 months of follow-up. Multivariate Cox regression was used to compare the probability of achieving remission between ETA-B and ETA-O, and multivariate logistic regression was used to assess sustained remission. We studied 150 participants with RA (ETA-B: 65.3%). Among 125 participants not in remission at baseline, the median time to first remission was 8.7 months (95% confidence intervals [CI] 5.2–12.1) in the ETA-B group and 14.5 months (95% CI 4.7–18.6) in the ETA-O group. Time to first remission was similar between the groups (log-rank test: P-value = 0.51). Multivariate Cox regression showed no clear difference in first remission between ETA-B and ETA-O (adjusted hazard ratio 1.52, 95% CI 0.68–3.39). Among 125 participants with at least 12 months of follow-up, the prevalence of sustained remission was 19.5% for ETA-B and 21.0% for ETA-O. In multivariate analysis, we did not detect a significant difference in sustained remission between ETA-B and ETA-O (adjusted odds ratio 1.14, 95% CI 0.29–4.87). We did not detect clear differences in first remission and sustained remission between participants with RA initiating ETA-B or ETA-O. Not applicable.