WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS
pericarditis, RP
PERICARDITIS, RECURRENCE
RHAPSODY provided a controlled environment to test the hypothesis that efficacious IL-1 blockade may render standard therapies redundant, challenging the traditional slow-tapering approach. Of 86 patients participating in the RHAPSODY run-in period, >60% were taking combination therapies. This post hoc analysis of data from the phase III trial RHAPSODY assessed how study investigators transitioned patients with RP who were receiving common multidrug regimens to rilonacept monotherapy. Investigators successfully transitioned all patients receiving non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, colchicine, and glucocorticoids at baseline to rilonacept monotherapy without recurrence using either a sequential (median, 7.7 weeks) or concurrent (median, 8.0 weeks) approach. In addition, rilonacept therapy allowed for rapid discontinuation of oral RP therapies without triggering pericarditis recurrence regardless of dose or duration of glucocorticoid treatment.