Long-term persistence of second-line biologics in psoriatic arthritis patients with prior TNF inhibitor exposure: a nationwide cohort study from the French health insurance database (SNDS)

Abstract

Introduction Tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) agents are most often the first-choice biological treatment for patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). When their discontinuation is needed, a switch to another TNFi or to another therapeutic class may be considered. However, data supporting one approach over another are lacking.Objective To compare the long-term persistence of classes of biologics in PsA patients with prior TNFi exposure.Methods This nationwide cohort study involved the administrative healthcare database of the French health insurance scheme linked to the hospital discharge database. We included all adults with PsA starting a second-line biological after discontinuing a TNFi during 2015–2020. Persistence was defined as the time from biological initiation to discontinuation and was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Comparison of persistence by biological class was performed with Poisson regression models with time divided into 6-month intervals.Results We included 2975 patients: 1580 (53%) initiating a second TNFi, 426 (14%) an interleukin 12/23 inhibitor (IL-12/23i) and 969 (33%) an IL-17 inhibitor (IL-17i). Overall, 1-year and 3-year persistence rates were 42% and 17%, respectively. After adjustment, persistence was associated with treatment with an IL-17i (adjusted relative risk (RRa) 0.79, 95% CI 0.71 to 0.87) or IL-12/23i (RRa 0.69, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.79) vs a TNFi, with no significant difference between IL-12/23 and IL-17 inhibitors (RRa 0.88, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.02).Conclusions Overall, this real-life study shows low persistence for all biologics at 3 years in PsA patients previously exposed to a TNFi. However, persistence was higher with an IL-17i or IL-12/23i than a TNFi.