Rheumatoid Arthritis Health Center

Actemra Tops Rival in Rheumatoid Arthritis Study

Humira Manufacturer Responds

Abbott, the company that makes Humira, said the study results were likely skewed because of the design of the trial, which used the maximum dose of Actemra but the minimum dose of Humira. In the study, 40 milligrams of Humira were given every other week. That same dose can be given weekly. "The results may be biased," says Derin Denham, senior manager of public affairs for Abbott.

Curtis says study participants were allowed to escalate their Humira dose, though they weren't required to.

He says in the real world, most doctors and patients don't opt for a weekly dose of Humira since it doesn't offer much more benefit but doubles the already hefty cost of the drug. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) in Berlin, Germany.

Study Limitations

"The study results are very solid. The numbers here are impressive. But when you get down to the details that patients care about, both patient groups are getting a lot better, but the Actemra group gets a bit better," Curtis says.

"I think some of those intangibles like a twice-a-month injection you can give yourself versus an IV infusion, I think those start to weigh in," he says.

The other important caveat, Curtis says, is that the study offers no information about how the drugs work when used in combination with other DMARDs, like methotrexate.

"It's always going to be better to use methotrexate with either of these two drugs than to use either of these biologics by themselves," he says.

These findings were presented at a medical conference. They should be considered preliminary as they have not yet undergone the "peer review" process, in which outside experts scrutinize the data prior to publication in a medical journal.