Remicade Doses Increase Significantly Throughout Administration, Could Impact Costs

A study comparing Simponi (golimumab) dosing changes over time to Remicade (infliximab) dosing changes over time found that Remicade doses increase significantly throughout the rheumatoid arthritis regimen administration, according to an abstract presented at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. 

The researchers based their findings on data collected as part of the AWARE study.

“AWARE is an ongoing Phase 4 comparator study designed to provide a real-world assessment of intravenous [Simponi] and [Remicade] in patients with rheumatoid arthritis,” Sergio Schwartzman, MD, professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, and colleagues wrote in a poster presentation. “Although the primary objective of AWARE is to compare the proportion of [Simponi] and [Remicade] patients with an infusion reaction, rheumatoid arthritis medication utilization patterns and biologic infusion times are collected for purposes of conducting dosing and cost analyses.” 

Dr Schwartsman and colleagues explained that they conducted this study in order to understand how dosing variations impact costs in a real-world setting.

“Although cost and managed care coverage are frequently cited by practicing rheumatologists as variables involved in therapeutic choices, data is lacking in the published literature,” they wrote. 

In order to study Simponi and Remicade utilization patterns, the researchers measured dosage patterns in 421 Simponi users and 326 Remicade users. The data included treatment decisions made by real-world rheumatologists, including drug amounts, prescribed doses, and dosing intervals. 

Study results showed that among patients taking Simponi, dose quantity did not change over the first seven doses. Conversely, among patients taking Remicade, doses increased by 152% between the first and seventh doses. The researchers noted that Remicade dose escalation became evident by the third dose.

“These data provide evidence that in a real-world rheumatology practice setting, the dose of Simponi remains constant, whereas the dose of Remicade is more variable and the mean infusion time of Simponi was consistently shorter compared to Remicade,” Dr Schwartzman and colleagues wrote.

—David Costill