%J The Lancet
%T Stopping of adalimumab in juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis (ADJUST): a multicentre, double-masked, randomised controlled trial
%A Nisha R Acharya
%A Athimalaipet V Ramanan
%A Alison B Coyne
%A Kathryn L Dudum
%A Elia M Rubio
%A Sydney M Woods
%A Catherine M Guly
%A Elena Moraitis
%A Harry JD Petrushkin
%A Kate Armon
%A Narman Puvanachandra
%A Jessy T Choi
%A Daniel P Hawley
%A Benjamin F Arnold
%A Thomas Lietman
%A Travis Porco
%A Emily Von Scheven
%A Jeremy Keenan
%A Sarah Lopez
%A John Gonzales
%A Caleb Ebert
%A Geraldina Lionetti
%A Shreya Malli
%A Jessica Shantha
%A Jason Richards
%A Danaye Nixon
%A Kaitlyn Jackson
%A Thuy Doan
%A Kevin Ouimette
%A Lina Zhong
%A Cindi Chen
%A Gavin Cleary
%A Jose Gonzales-Martin
%A Sheila T Angeles-Han
%A Virginia Miraldi Utz
%A Melissa A Lerman
%A Stefanie Davidson
%A Erin Stahl
%A Ashley M Cooper
%A Mark Dacey
%A Katharine F Moore
%A Jennifer C Cooper
%A Brinda Muthusamy
%A Parisa Emami-Naeini
%A Angel Alberto Herrera Guerra
%A Sharmila Jandial
%A Alan Connor
%A Ameenat Lola Solebo
%A Lucy R Wedderburn
%A Elizabeth Ralph
%A Arani Sridhar
%A Bharat Kapoor
%A Janet L Davis
%A Ozlem Pala
%A William D Renton
%A Robyn Troutbeck
%A Jane Ashworth
%A Alice Chieng
%A Eric Crowell
%A Janet Orrock
%A Albert Vitale
%A Aimee Hersh
%A Sapna Gangaputra
%A Thomas Brent Graham
%X Background:
Adalimumab is an effective treatment for juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis. Data are scarce on the effects of discontinuing adalimumab after control of the disease had been reached. We aimed to assess efficacy and safety of discontinuing treatment in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis.
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Methods:
We conducted a multicentre, double-masked, randomised, placebo-controlled trial at 20 ophthalmology and rheumatology clinics across the USA, the UK, and Australia. Patients aged at least 2 years who had controlled arthritis and uveitis for at least 1 year on adalimumab were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio using a web-based system to receive adalimumab or placebo, administered subcutaneously every 2 weeks until the 48-week visit or treatment failure. The primary outcome was the time to treatment failure, defined by recurrence of uveitis or arthritis; all participants were included in the primary and safety analysis. Unmasking occurred at treatment failure, and patients were offered open-label adalimumab through 48 weeks of follow-up. This trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03816397).
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Findings:
87 patients were enrolled from March 3, 2020, to Feb 14, 2024, whereafter the prespecified interim stopping criteria were met and enrolment was stopped. One patient in each group dropped out but data were included in analyses. Six (14%) of 43 patients in the adalimumab group and 30 (68%) of 44 patients in the placebo group had treatment failure (hazard ratio 8·7, 95% CI 3·6–21·2; p<0·0001). The median time to treatment failure in the placebo group was 119 days (IQR 84–243). The median time to re-establishing sustained control of inflammation in the placebo group after restarting adalimumab was 105 days (63–196). 226 non-serious adverse events occurred in the adalimumab group (7·5 events per person-year, 95% CI 6·5–8·5), and 115 non-serious adverse events occurred in the placebo group (6·8 events per person-year, 5·6–8·1). Four serious adverse events were reported, all in the adalimumab group.
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Interpretation:
Discontinuing adalimumab led to higher rates of recurrence of uveitis, arthritis, or both in patients with previously controlled juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis. However, all patients who had treatment failure successfully regained control of inflammation by the end of the 48-week study period after restarting adalimumab.
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Funding:
US National Institutes of Health (National Eye Institute).
%L discovery10204324
%I Elsevier BV
%N 10475
%V 405
%O Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0
license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
%D 2025
%P 303-313