Use of Biologic or Targeted Synthetic Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs and Cancer Risk. (PubMed, JAMA Netw Open)
The Oral Rheumatoid Arthritis Trial Surveillance demonstrated an increased cancer risk among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) taking tofacitinib compared with those taking tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFis)...Of a total 27 661 drug exposures, drug initiations consisted of 20 586 TNFi exposures (74%), 2570 JAKi exposures (9%), 2255 abatacept exposures (8%), 1182 rituximab exposures (4%), and 1068 IL-6i exposures (4%)...Given the limitations of administrative claims data and confounding by indication, it is likely that these patients may have a higher disease burden, resulting in channeling bias. To better understand these associations, larger studies with longer follow-up time are needed.