Certolizumab pegol in rheumatoid arthritis: current update

Abstract

Introduction: The development of TNF-α inhibitors (TNF-is) represents a major advancement in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Currently, there are five agents licensed for moderate–to-severely active RA. Certolizumab pegol (CZP) is a novel PEGylated, constant fragment-free TNF-i therapy, which is the focus of this review.

Areas covered: Data from Phase III randomised controlled trials in terms of clinical efficacy, radiographic progression, patient-reported outcomes and safety profile are reviewed. These include long-term data from open-label extension studies.

Expert opinion: The advantages of CZP include rapid reduction of disease activity, low rates of injection-site reaction and may be safe for use in pregnancy. The long-term data strengthen the position of CZP for use either as monotherapy or preferably in combination with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), in moderate-to-severely active RA, comparable to other TNF-is. Notably, prolonged CZP exposure is not associated with increased risk of severe infection compared to general population, contrasting with preliminary analysis of short-term data. Over the next few years, evidence will be available on the use of CZP in combination with methotrexate for remission induction in DMARD-naïve patients, biomarkers and the development and licensing of TNF-i biosimilars.

Keywords::

• anti-TNF
• biological therapy
• certolizumab
• PEGylation
• rheumatoid arthritis

Acknowledgement

M Fechtenbaum and MY Md Yusof contributed equally to the development of this manuscript.

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