Drug retention of biologic and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in Korean patients with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis

Background/Aims The aim of this study was to compare the short- and long-term retention rates of biologic and targeted synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (b/tsDMARDs) in Korean patients with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis. Methods This study was conducted with 1,538 treatment courses of 1,063 patients, including adalimumab (n = 332), etanercept (n = 369), infliximab (n = 146), abatacept (n = 152), tocilizumab (n = 299), tofacitinib (n = 136), and baricitinib (n = 104), in patients with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis who started b/tsDMARD treatment between 2008 and 2020 at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital. Discontinuation 1 and 3 years after the first prescription of each drug was investigated. Kaplan– Meier estimates of time to discontinuation were calculated to compare the difference in drug retention rate for each drug. Patient-level predictors of drug discontinuation were evaluated using a Cox proportional hazards model. Results The overall 1-year drug retention rate was from 60.1% for adalimumab to 90.0% for tofacitinib in the b/tsDMARD-naïve group, and from 55.2% for infliximab to 84.8% for tofacitinib in the b/tsDMARD-experienced group. The 3-year drug retention rate was from 36.9% for infliximab to 86.5% for tofacitinib in the b/tsDMARD-naïve group, and from 31.0% for infliximab to 65.4% for tocilizumab in the b/tsDMARD-experienced group. Drug discontinuation appeared to be affected by specific types of b/tsDMARDs. Conclusions Tocilizumab and tofacitinib are less commonly discontinued compared to tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors at 1 and 3 years. Specifically, tofacitinib in the b/tsDMARD-naïve group and tocilizumab in the b/tsDMARD-experienced group showed the highest 3-year retention rates.