Upadacitinib vs adalimumab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and a prior inadequate response or intolerance to a tumour necrosis factor inhibitor: 12-week results from the randomised, double-blind, SELECT-SWITCH study

OBJECTIVES: After the first tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) failure, patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) often cycle to a second; however, switching mechanisms of action has been postulated to improve outcomes. The ongoing SELECT-SWITCH trial compared upadacitinib with adalimumab for active RA after first TNFi failure at 12 weeks. METHODS: Patients with inadequate response or intolerance to 1 nonadalimumab TNFi receiving stable methotrexate were randomised (1:1) to 15 mg once daily upadacitinib or 40 mg every-other-weekly adalimumab. The primary endpoint was achieving superiority in Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28)-C-reactive protein (CRP) ≤3.2 at week 12. Ranked secondary endpoints (week 12, superiority) were (1) achieving ≥50% improvement in American College of Rheumatology response criteria (ACR50); (2) achieving DAS28-CRP <2.6; change from baseline in (3) DAS28-CRP; (4) pain; (5) Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI). RESULTS: Overall, 492 patients were randomised. Baseline characteristics were balanced between groups. Week 12 DAS28-CRP ≤3.2 response was superior with upadacitinib (43.3%) vs adalimumab (22.4%; difference, 21.0% [95% CI: 12.9-29.1]; P < .0001) as were ACR50 (38.2% vs 26.8% [P = .0068]), DAS28-CRP <2.6 (28.4% vs 14.5%; P = .0002), mean changes in DAS28-CRP (-2.432 vs -1.840; P < .0001) and pain (-3.165 vs -2.373; P = .0005), but not in HAQ-DI (-0.523 vs -0.496; P = .5849). Safety was comparable between treatments. CONCLUSIONS: The primary endpoint of the SELECT-SWITCH trial was met, with a higher percentage of patients with active RA who switched to upadacitinib after first TNFi failure achieving DAS28-CRP ≤3.2 at 12 weeks than those cycling to a second TNFi, adalimumab, with generally similar safety profiles. GOV IDENTIFIER: NCT05814627.