Efficacy and Safety of Lenabasum, a Cannabinoid Type 2 Receptor Agonist, in a Phase 3 Randomized Trial in Diffuse Cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis

Objective This phase 3 study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy and safety of lenabasum, a cannabinoid type 2 receptor agonist, in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc). Methods A multinational double-blind study was conducted in 365 dcSSc patients who were randomized and dosed 1:1:1 with lenabasum 20 mg, lenabasum 5 mg, or placebo, each twice daily and added to background treatments, including immunosuppressive therapies (IST). Results The primary end point, the American College of Rheumatology combined response index in dcSSc (CRISS) at week 52 for lenabasum 20 mg twice a day versus placebo, was not met, with CRISS score of 0.888 versus 0.887 (P = 0.4972, using mixed models repeated measures [MMRM]). The change in the modified Rodnan skin thickness score (MRSS) at week 52 for lenabasum 20 mg twice a day versus placebo was −6.7 versus −8.1 (P = 0.1183, using MMRM). Prespecified analyses showed higher CRISS scores, greater improvement in MRSS, and lower decline in forced vital capacity in patients on background mycophenolate and those who were taking IST for ≤1 year. No deaths or excess in serious or severe adverse events related to lenabasum were observed. Conclusion A benefit of lenabasum in dcSSc was not demonstrated. Most patients were treated with background IST, and treatment with mycophenolate mofetil in particular was associated with better outcomes. These findings support the use of IST in the treatment of dcSSc and highlight the challenge of demonstrating a treatment effect when investigational treatment is added to standard of care IST. These findings have relevance to trial design in SSc, as well as to clinical care

Patient-reported outcome instruments for assessing Raynaud’s phenomenon in systemic sclerosis: A SCTC vascular working group report

The episodic nature of Raynaud's phenomenon in systemic sclerosis has led to a reliance on patient-reported outcome instruments such as the Raynaud's Condition Score diary. Little is known about the utilization in routine clinical practice and health professional attitudes toward existing patient-reported outcome instruments for assessing systemic sclerosis-Raynaud's phenomenon. Members of the Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium Vascular Working Group (n=28) were invited to participate in a survey gauging attitudes toward the Raynaud's Condition Score diary and the perceived need for novel patient-reported outcome instruments for assessing patient-reported outcome. Nineteen Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium Vascular Working Group members (68% response rate) from academic units based in North America (n=9), Europe (n=8), South America (n=1) and Australasia (n=1) took part in the survey. There was broad consensus that Raynaud's Condition Score diary returns could be influenced by factors including seasonal variation in weather, efforts made by patients to avoid or ameliorate attacks of Raynaud's phenomenon, habituation to Raynaud's phenomenon symptoms, evolution of Raynaud's phenomenon symptom characteristics with progressive obliterative microangiopathy, patient-coping strategies, respondent burden and placebo effect. There was consensus that limitations of the Raynaud's Condition Score diary might be a barrier to drug development (79% of respondents agree/strongly agree) and that a novel patient-reported outcome instrument for assessing systemic sclerosis-Raynaud's phenomenon should be developed with the input of both clinicians and patients (84% agree/strongly agree). Perceived potential limitations of the Raynaud's Condition Score diary have been identified along with concerns that such factors might impede drug development programs for systemic sclerosis-Raynaud's phenomenon. There is support within the systemic sclerosis community for the development of a novel patient-reported outcome instrument for assessing systemic sclerosis-Raynaud's phenomenon

Immunochip Analysis Identifies Multiple Susceptibility Loci for Systemic Sclerosis

Pathophysiology and treatment of rheumatic disease

Immunochip analysis identifies multiple susceptibility loci for systemic sclerosis

Full-text article is free to read on the publisher website.\ud \ud In this study, 1,833 systemic sclerosis (SSc) cases and 3,466 controls were genotyped with the Immunochip array. Classical alleles, amino acid residues, and SNPs across the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region were imputed and tested. These analyses resulted in a model composed of six polymorphic amino acid positions and seven SNPs that explained the observed significant associations in the region. In addition, a replication step comprising 4,017 SSc cases and 5,935 controls was carried out for several selected non-HLA variants, reaching a total of 5,850 cases and 9,401 controls of European ancestry. Following this strategy, we identified and validated three SSc risk loci, including DNASE1L3 at 3p14, the SCHIP1-IL12A locus at 3q25, and ATG5 at 6q21, as well as a suggested association of the TREH-DDX6 locus at 11q23. The associations of several previously reported SSc risk loci were validated and further refined, and the observed peak of association in PXK was related to DNASE1L3. Our study has increased the number of known genetic associations with SSc, provided further insight into the pleiotropic effects of shared autoimmune risk factors, and highlighted the power of dense mapping for detecting previously overlooked susceptibility loci