High Hopes and Aspirations or how ASP015K / Peficitinib brings back the Small Molecule Hype

ASP015K, now called peficitinib is an oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor with selectivity for JAK1/3, developed by Astellas Pharma for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other autoimmune diseases [1]. A year later, as the hype about JAK and small molecules were cooling down, I’ve written: “Could ASP015K keep up with its’ aspirations at the EULAR 2013 meeting?” And: “My positive impression dwindles considerably! I hope we’ll see results from a phase 2b study later this year.” [2] So we already had a Phase 2b study presented at the EULAR 2013 Meeting.

As tofacitinib and baricitinib are approved in the EU right now, hype and hopes in protein kinase inhibitors return. Last year I’ve speculated: “I guess that the pharmaceutical industry isn’t prudent enough not to overprice small molecules, so that our patient's needs are addressed.” [3] And I’ve proven right. [4]

Recently Gregory M. Weiss, M.D. has published an article [5]: “JAK Inhibitor Peficitinib Reduces RA Symptoms”. He refers to a phase 2b study. So, it seemed to me nothing new under the sun. I stumbled over the sentence: “The authors suggest that rheumatoid arthritis patients with elevated C-reactive protein levels may respond better to higher doses of peficitinib than those with elevated sedimentation rates.” Most of my patients, who have elevated sedimentation rates also have elevated C-reactive protein levels, and vice versa.

There is already a phase 3 study on Peficitinib under way [6]. I’ve checked the abstracts for the 2017 EULAR Meeting (still under embargo), but there isn’t any study mentioned, so that I expect news on this study could be published at the ACR 2017 Meeting later this year.

There will be an open extension phase 2b study on filgotinib being presented at the EULAR 2017 Meeting. No study on decernotinib expected at the EULAR 2017 Meeting.

The race for the high end price level small molecules is open again. Let’s hope that besides the hype there’ll be some benefit for our patients.

Links:

[1] http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/12/asp015k-at-acr-2012-in-washington.html

[2] http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/06/asp015k-at-eular-2013-meeting.html

[3] http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2016/08/protein-kinase-inhibitors-small.html

[4] http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2017/05/tofacitinib-xeljanz-kommt-gerade-an.html Text in German.

[5] http://www.rheumatologynetwork.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/jak-inhibitor-peficitinib-reduces-ra-symptoms?GUID=71CAAEF6-94A2-4616-B379-17C18CF13750&rememberme=1&ts=30052017

[6] http://adisinsight.springer.com/drugs/800028907

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