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  • Year in Review
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Spondyloarthritis in 2023

Exploring the latest advances in axial spondyloarthritis management

Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume 20, pages 79–80 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Studies published in 2023 emphasize the long-term efficacy and safety of novel therapeutics for both radiographic and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and provide a consensus definition of ‘early axSpA’ for use in research studies.

Key advances

  • In an open-label extension of the phase III SELECT-AXIS 2, upadacitinib demonstrated sustained efficacy in patients with radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) refractory to treatment with biologic DMARDs2.

  • 52-week results of the BE-MOBILE 1 and BE-MOBILE 2 studies confirmed the long-term efficacy and safety of the IL-17A–IL-17F inhibitor bimekizumab in patients with radiographic and non-radiographic axSpA3.

  • The Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society community has developed a consensus definition of ‘early axSpA’ to be used in research studies addressing the early stages of the disease4.

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References

  1. Ramiro, S. et al. ASAS-EULAR recommendations for the management of axial spondyloarthritis: 2022 update. Ann. Rheum. Dis. 82, 19–34 (2023).

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  2. Baraliakos, X. et al. Efficacy and safety of upadacitinib in patients with ankylosing spondylitis refractory to biologic therapy: 1-year results from the open-label extension of a phase III study. Arthritis Res. Ther. 25, 172 (2023).

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  5. Deodhar, A. et al. Upadacitinib for the treatment of active non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (SELECT-AXIS 2): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. Lancet 400, 369–79 (2022).

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  8. Van Der Heijde, D. et al. Efficacy and safety of upadacitinib for active ankylosing spondylitis refractory to biological therapy: a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial. Ann. Rheum. Dis. 81, 1515–1523 (2022).

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  9. Van Der Heijde, D. et al. Goodbye to the term ‘ankylosing spondylitis’, hello ‘axial spondyloarthritis’: time to embrace the ASAS defined nomenclature. Ann. Rheum. Dis. https://doi.org/10.1136/ard-2023-225185 (2023).

  10. Van Der Heijde, D. et al. Efficacy and safety of bimekizumab in axial spondyloarthritis: results of two parallel phase 3 randomised controlled trials. Ann Rheum. Dis. 82, 515–526 (2023).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rheumatology, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain

    Diego Benavent

  2. Idipaz, Hospital La Paz, Madrid, Spain

    Victoria Navarro-Compán

  3. Department of Rheumatology, Hospital Universitario La Paz, IdiPaz, Madrid, Spain

    Victoria Navarro-Compán

Authors
  1. Diego Benavent
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  2. Victoria Navarro-Compán
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Victoria Navarro-Compán.

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Competing interests

D.B. declares that he has been a speaker for Eli Lilly, Janssen and UCB Pharma. V.N.-C. declares that she has been a speaker for AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Janssen, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, and UCB Pharma; has acted as a consultant for AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Galapagos, Moonlake, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, and UCB Pharma; and has received grant/research support from AbbVie and Novartis.

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Benavent, D., Navarro-Compán, V. Exploring the latest advances in axial spondyloarthritis management. Nat Rev Rheumatol 20, 79–80 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-023-01072-7

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