Baseline characteristics from trials in the indirect comparisons
| RA-BEGIN9 | AMBITION10 | FUNCTION8 | PREMIER6 7 | ORAL-START11 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | MTX (N=210) | Baricitinib 4 mg (N=159) | MTX (N=284) | Tocilizumab 8 mg/kg (N=286) | MTX (N=287) | Tocilizumab 8 mg/kg (N=292) | MTX (N=257) | Adalimumab 40 mg (N=274) | MTX (N=186) | Tofacitinib 5 mg (N=373) |
| Mean duration of RA, years | 1.3 | 1.9 | 6.2 | 6.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 2.9 |
| SJC, 66 joints | 16.4 | 16.1 | 19.2 | 19.1 | 16.2 | 16.5 | 22.1 | 21.8 | 16.8 | 16.3 |
| TJC, 68 joints | 27 | 26 | 31.1 | 31.8 | 27.4 | 28.7 | 32.3 | 31.8 | 25.4 | 25.7 |
| CRP, mg/L | 22 | 24 | 31 | 30 | 23 | 25 | 40 | 41 | 26 | 23 |
| DAS28-ESR | 6.6 | 6.6 | 6.8 | 6.8 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 6.4 | 6.6 | 6.6 |
|
Patient’s Global Assessment of Disease, 0–100 mm VAS | 66 | 65 | 66 | 64 | 64 | 68 | 63 | 68 | 58 | 60 |
| MTX dosing information | MTX initiated at 10 mg/week and, if tolerated, increased to 20 mg/week by Week 8; if clinically indicated, an initial dosage of 7.5 mg one time per week and maximum dosage of 12.5 mg once weekly | MTX initiated at 7.5 mg, increasing to 15 mg at Week 4 and to 20 mg at Week 8; dose reduction to 10 mg weekly was permitted | MTX initiated at 7.5 mg/week and was increased to a maximum of 20 mg/week by Week 8 | MTX initiated at 7.5 mg/week for the first 4 weeks. If tolerated, dosage was increased to 15 mg/week during Weeks 4–8, and to 20 mg/week at Week 9. Dosage could be reduced to as low as 7.5 mg/week | MTX initiated at 10 mg/week, with increments of 5 mg/week every 4 weeks to 20 mg/week by Week 8 | |||||
| Mean MTX dosing achieved, mg/week | 17.7 | 15.5 |
N/A (81% achieved 20 mg/week) | 16.9 | 18.5 | |||||
CRP, C reactive protein; DAS28, Disease Activity Score for 28 joints; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; MTX, methotrexate; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; SJC, swollen joint count; TJC, tender joint count; VAS, visual analogue scale.