The Rheumatologist reports that in an ACR Convergence 2022 session, Robert F. Spiera, MD, rheumatologist at HSS, discussed the use of sarilumab as a potential glucocorticoid-sparing therapy in a phase 3 study in patients with treatment-refractory polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), one of the most common inflammatory diseases of the elderly.

“Polymyalgia rheumatica is relatively easy to treat with glucocorticoids, but unfortunately relapses are common, resulting in prolonged courses of glucocorticoid therapy with its attendant morbidities,” Dr. Spiera said. “So we have recognized that a steroid-sparing therapy is an unmet need in PMR.”

Dr. Spiera and his colleagues designed the SAPHYR trial, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study, to assess the efficacy and safety of another IL-6 antagonist, sarilumab, in PMR patients aged 50 or older. Dr. Spiera pointed out that they studied patients who were refractory to steroid treatment, the PMR population with the greatest unmet treatment needs.

Read the full article at the-rheumatologist.org.