ACR Meeting Abstracts

ACR Meeting Abstracts

  • Meetings
    • ACR Convergence 2024
    • ACR Convergence 2023
    • 2023 ACR/ARP PRSYM
    • ACR Convergence 2022
    • ACR Convergence 2021
    • ACR Convergence 2020
    • 2020 ACR/ARP PRSYM
    • 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting
    • 2018-2009 Meetings
    • Download Abstracts
  • Keyword Index
  • Advanced Search
  • Your Favorites
    • Favorites
    • Login
    • View and print all favorites
    • Clear all your favorites
  • ACR Meetings

Abstract Number: 2778

Abatacept-Treated Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Have Better Drug-Survival Rate When Abatacept Is the First or Second Line Biologic Agent with an Excellent Overall Safety Profile: A Single Center Experience

Irini Flouri1, Argyro Repa2, Antonis Fanouriakis2, Nikolaos Kougkas2, Ioannis Papalopoulos2, Eleni Kampouraki2, Dimitrios Boumpas3, Nestor Avgoustidis2, George Bertsias2 and Prodromos Sidiropoulos2, 1Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology, Allergy, University of Crete, Medical School, University Hospital, Heraklion, Greece, 2Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology, and Allergy, University of Crete, Medical School, University Hospital, Heraklion, Greece, 3Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece

Meeting: 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

Date of first publication: September 29, 2015

Keywords: Abatacept and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Biologic agents

  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
Session Information

Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Title: Rheumatoid Arthritis - Small Molecules, Biologics and Gene Therapy Poster III

Session Type: ACR Poster Session C

Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM

Background/Purpose:

Long-term prospective observational studies are complementary to controlled clinical trials in exploring the effectiveness and safety of biological therapies in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We sought to study abatacept survival, reasons of discontinuation and clinical responses in everyday clinical practice.

Methods:

Prospective, observational, single-center study at the Rheumatology Clinic, University Hospital of Heraklion, Greece. Patient demographics, co-morbidities and disease characteristics were recorded at baseline, while drug discontinuations, disease activity and adverse events were monitored during follow-up, All patients who received abatacept intravenously between 29/6/2017 till 31/8/2014 were analyzed.

Results:

243 RA patients (84% women, 44% with destructive arthritis) with median (IQR) age 61 (15) years (37% aged >65 years), disease duration 7.9 (11) years and DAS28 5.9 (1.6) at baseline were included. Total follow-up time was 407 patient-years [median (IQR): 1.4 (1.3) years per patient]. Abatacept was used as first, 2nd or 3rdbiologic agent in 28%, 34%, and 38% of the patients, respectively.

Forty percent of the patients discontinued therapy after median (IQR) 1.0 (1.1) years. Reasons for discontinuation were treatment failure in 88 patients, adverse events in 8, other reasons in 3. In multivariable regression analysis controlling for potential possible confounding factors (demographic, disease characteristics, treatments), independent predictors of abatacept survival were male sex, older age, abatacept used as 1st or 2nd (as compared to ≥3rd) biologic agent, lower CRP and higher DAS28 and HAQ at baseline.

Regarding responses at 6 (12) months of therapy, 5.7% (13.2%) of patients had good and another 46.3% (47.6%) had moderate EULAR response, while 10.8% (16.5%) and 5.9% (7.8%) of the patients had DAS28 ≤3.2 or remission, respectively. The response rate at 12 months was higher in patients who received abatacept as 1st or 2nd as compared to ≥3rdbiologic agent (p= 0.021).

257 adverse events were registered, 43 being serious adverse events (SAE). The rate of total or serious infections was 37 and 2.7 per 100 patients/year respectively, while the median (IQR) time to first serious infection was 1.3 (1.8) years. SAE (including 5 cancers and 11 infections, mainly of the respiratory tract) occurred more frequently in geriatric RA patients (p=0.05). 

Conclusion:

In this large, single-center observational study with abatacept-treated RA patients, nearly 60% of the patients remained on therapy and only 9% of drug discontinuations were due to adverse events. The majority of patients discontinued therapy due to inadequate response, mainly when abatacept was the third or more biologic agent administered. Abatacept when used as 1st or 2nd line biologic agent has better survival and efficacy profile.


Disclosure: I. Flouri, None; A. Repa, None; A. Fanouriakis, None; N. Kougkas, None; I. Papalopoulos, None; E. Kampouraki, None; D. Boumpas, None; N. Avgoustidis, None; G. Bertsias, None; P. Sidiropoulos, None.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Flouri I, Repa A, Fanouriakis A, Kougkas N, Papalopoulos I, Kampouraki E, Boumpas D, Avgoustidis N, Bertsias G, Sidiropoulos P. Abatacept-Treated Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Have Better Drug-Survival Rate When Abatacept Is the First or Second Line Biologic Agent with an Excellent Overall Safety Profile: A Single Center Experience [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015; 67 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/abatacept-treated-rheumatoid-arthritis-patients-have-better-drug-survival-rate-when-abatacept-is-the-first-or-second-line-biologic-agent-with-an-excellent-overall-safety-profile-a-single-center-exper/. Accessed .
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

« Back to 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/abatacept-treated-rheumatoid-arthritis-patients-have-better-drug-survival-rate-when-abatacept-is-the-first-or-second-line-biologic-agent-with-an-excellent-overall-safety-profile-a-single-center-exper/

Advanced Search

Your Favorites

You can save and print a list of your favorite abstracts during your browser session by clicking the “Favorite” button at the bottom of any abstract. View your favorites »

All abstracts accepted to ACR Convergence are under media embargo once the ACR has notified presenters of their abstract’s acceptance. They may be presented at other meetings or published as manuscripts after this time but should not be discussed in non-scholarly venues or outlets. The following embargo policies are strictly enforced by the ACR.

Accepted abstracts are made available to the public online in advance of the meeting and are published in a special online supplement of our scientific journal, Arthritis & Rheumatology. Information contained in those abstracts may not be released until the abstracts appear online. In an exception to the media embargo, academic institutions, private organizations, and companies with products whose value may be influenced by information contained in an abstract may issue a press release to coincide with the availability of an ACR abstract on the ACR website. However, the ACR continues to require that information that goes beyond that contained in the abstract (e.g., discussion of the abstract done as part of editorial news coverage) is under media embargo until 10:00 AM ET on November 14, 2024. Journalists with access to embargoed information cannot release articles or editorial news coverage before this time. Editorial news coverage is considered original articles/videos developed by employed journalists to report facts, commentary, and subject matter expert quotes in a narrative form using a variety of sources (e.g., research, announcements, press releases, events, etc.).

Violation of this policy may result in the abstract being withdrawn from the meeting and other measures deemed appropriate. Authors are responsible for notifying colleagues, institutions, communications firms, and all other stakeholders related to the development or promotion of the abstract about this policy. If you have questions about the ACR abstract embargo policy, please contact ACR abstracts staff at [email protected].

Wiley

  • Online Journal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Permissions Policies
  • Cookie Preferences

© Copyright 2025 American College of Rheumatology