Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of ACZ885 in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis With Ongoing Treatment With Methotrexate

Novartis

Status and phase

Completed

Phase 2

Phase 1

Conditions

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Treatments

Drug: ACZ885

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Industry

Identifiers

NCT00619905

CACZ885A2101

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study assessed the long-term safety and tolerability of ACZ885 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, as well as long-term efficacy, long-term preservation and/or improvement of joint structure and bone mineral density, and long term maintenance of health-related quality of life.

Enrollment

53 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18 to 75 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Male and female patients aged 18.5 - 65/75 years (depending on the dose group).
Diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (ACR 1987 revised classification for criteria for RA) with a disease duration of at least 6 months prior to randomization.
Active disease at screening and baseline evaluation (same evaluator) ) with more than 6 tender and 6 swollen joints of 28 examined (including any effused joint) and either a) Westergren erythrocyte sedimentation (ESR) ≥ 28 mm/hour, or b) CRP ≥ 6 mg/L.
Patients should have failed at least 1 DMARD in the past, but should not be deemed "refractory to all therapies"
Patients should have a current treatment regimen of ≥ 15 mg methotrexate/week and with the current dose stable for approximately 3 months.
Patients were required to have an otherwise stable RA therapeutic regimen, consisting of either a stable dose of NSAIDs and/or a stable dose of oral corticosteroids (prednisone or equivalent < 10 mg daily) for at least 4 weeks prior to randomization.

Exclusion criteria

Previous treatment with anti-TNF-α antibody therapy (or other biological therapy) within appropriate timeframe (considering the half life of the compound)
Patients who have received intra-articular or systemic corticosteroid injections having been required for treatment of acute RA flare (not being part of a regular therapeutic regimen) within four weeks prior to randomization OR require narcotic analgesics other than those accepted by the investigator for analgesia (e.g., codeine, tramadol, dextropropoxyphene)

Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria may apply.