Canakinumab for the Patient With Difficult-to-Treat Gouty Arthritis: Review of the Clinical Evidence

Many patients with gouty arthritis experience frequent flares and have comorbidities that may limit their anti-inflammatory treatment options for acute flare management. For patients with contraindications to both NSAIDs and/or colchicine, treatment options are particularly limited, and there is an unmet medical need in this subgroup of patients. Two phase 3 studies and their extensions have demonstrated that a single dose of canakinumab during an acute flare provided rapid and effective pain relief and prolonged suppression of flares and inflammation in patients with a history of frequent flares and contraindicated for, intolerant of, or unresponsive to NSAIDs and/or colchicine. Canakinumab was consistently superior to the active comparator triamcinolone acetonide and was generally well tolerated in this patient population with a high prevalence of multiple medical comorbidities. Canakinumab should therefore be considered as a treatment option in a target population of patients with frequent gouty arthritis attacks who are unable to use NSAIDs and colchicine and in whom frequent use of corticosteroids is not considered appropriate.