Real-world use of biologics for systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis: information from a Japanese hospital claims database.

Objectives: Limited information is available on patients with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) receiving biologics in Japan. The types of biologics, treatment duration, prior and concomitant treatments, administration route (intravenous [IV] or subcutaneous [SC] injection), treatment sequence, and characteristics of patients receiving biologics were investigated.

Methods: We used data from a Japanese hospital claims database (2008-2024).

Results: Of the 2000 sJIA patients in the database, 315 (15.8%) received one or more biologics. For the first biologic, the most common were anti-interleukin-6 (anti-IL-6) drugs (82.5%; tocilizumab, 82.2% [IV, 65.1%; SC, 17.1%]; others, <0.4%), followed by anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs (11.7%; adalimumab SC, 4.4%; infliximab IV, 4.1%; others, <1.6% each), canakinumab SC (3.8%), and abatacept IV or SC (1.9%). Over 53% of patients received anti-IL-6 drugs for ≥1 year. The most common csDMARDs administered prior to anti-IL-6 drugs were cyclosporine (11.9%), methotrexate (11.5%), and tacrolimus (6.2%), and those most commonly administered concomitantly with anti-IL-6 drugs were methotrexate (22.7%), cyclosporine (16.9%), and tacrolimus (11.5%). Fifty patients switched from tocilizumab IV to a second biologic (tocilizumab SC, 50.0%; canakinumab SC, 36.0%; others ≤4.0% each).

Conclusions: Our study described the real-world usage of biologics for sJIA in Japan.