Safety of synthetic and biological DMARDs: a systematic literature review informing the 2019 update of the EULAR recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis
Data obtained by this review of 42 observational studies found no unexpected safety outcome, confirming the known safety profile of biological DMARDs, except for the possibly increased risk of venous thromboembolism with JAK inhibitors, which needs further evaluation.
Source:
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
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SPS commentary:
This was one of two systematic literature reviews that informed the EULAR updated recommendations. Amongst the findings of review on efficacy was that switching to another tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) or non-TNFi biological DMARDs after TNFi treatment failure is efficacious, and biosimilars are non-inferior to their reference products.