AbbVie Ups The Ante For Upadacitinib At EULAR

With approvals for upadacitinib expected in the coming months, AbbVie Inc. has been making the case for its closely watched JAK1 inhibitor with long-term data demonstrating that the drug works better than its own mega-blockbuster Humira in keeping rheumatoid arthritis patients in clinical remission as well as improving their symptoms.

The US major presented new results from the SELECT-EARLY and SELECT-COMPARE Phase III trials at the European League Against Rheumatism congress in Madrid which show that over 48 weeks "a significantly higher proportion of patients" treated with once-daily upadacitinib monotherapy or in combination with methotrexate stayed in clinical remission, compared with those treated with methotrexate alone or a combination of the latter and Humira (adalimumab)