Summary

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic, progressive and currently incurable autoimmune disease that primarily affects the joints. Disease progression results in stiffness and pain, especially in the hands and feet, which hinders the mobility of the patient and can have a substantial impact on quality of life. Therapeutic options for the treatment of RA have grown rapidly over the past two decades, having also expanded to encompass a number of highly successful biologics. Although clinically and commercially successful, there are a number of unmet needs in this market.

The differences between many of these products are relatively nuanced, and must be understood fully by companies seeking to position a novel drug in this market. This tabular heat map framework, designed to provide an easily digestible summary of these clinical characteristics, provides detailed readouts of all late-stage clinical trial results for products in the RA market and Phase III pipeline. These are split along lines of therapy, and so are reflective of the treatment algorithm used in the clinic.

All safety and efficacy endpoints reported in these trials are displayed, for both the drug and placebo groups. In addition, key study characteristics such as the size, composition and patient segment of the study population, are provided. These results are presented in a visually accessible, color-coded manner in order to maximize ease-of-use.

The accompanying text provides a detailed analysis of the clinical benchmarks set by the current market landscape, and the anticipated changes to these benchmarks, and to the treatment algorithm, as a result of the late-stage pipeline.

Scope

The rheumatoid arthritis market landscape is expected to change substantially with the advent of promising novel pipeline products.
- What are the clinical characteristics of currently approved therapies for rheumatoid arthritis, in terms of specific safety and efficacy parameters?
- What are the key unmet needs in this indication, and which clinical safety and efficacy parameters are the most closely linked to them?
- How will current late-stage IL-6 inhibitors affect the market for biologic DMARDs, and are they able to yield comparable clinical efficacy results to TNF-a therapies?
- With four targeted synthetic DMARDs present in the late-stage pipeline, do they have sufficient differentiating characteristics to make a strong impact on the market?
- How will the influx of biosimilar TNF-a inhibitors affect the competitive landscape?

Reasons to buy

- Understand the current clinical landscape by considering the treatment options available for each patient segment.
- Visually compare the currently approved treatments available at each line of therapy, based on the most important efficacy and safety parameters tested in clinical trials.
- Assess the current late-stage pipeline, in terms of the likely positioning of each product and the implications for the clinical landscape at each line of therapy
- Understand the relative strengths and weaknesses of the studies used to gather these data.
- Build up a nuanced understanding of the clinical benchmarks set by these products, and consider how the current late-stage pipeline will affect these benchmarks
- Assess one’s own pipeline program in light of these benchmarks in order to optimally position this program and maximize uptake by clinicians