[Current treatment of axial spondylarthritis : Clinical efficacy]

Drug treatment in patients with axial spondylarthritis (axSpA) aims to modify symptoms and complaints and currently includes the substance groups of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and biologicals (disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, bDMARDS). Treatment with NSAIDs is the first line treatment according to international and national recommendations. Patients with persisting high disease activity despite continuous standard treatment with NSAIDs, should be treated with biologicals. In Germany treatment with tumor necosis factor (TNF) inhibitors or interleukin 17 inhibitor (secukinumab) are currently approved for treating patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Treatment of patients with non-radiographic axSpA (nr-axSpA) is restricted to TNF inhibitors (except infliximab) in Germany. The efficacy and safety are documented for both substance groups; however, due to the longer time since approval longitudinal data for TNF inhibitors are more robust and the data contain information about switching within a substance group. Although overall retention rates of TNF inhibitors are similar despite the difference in formation of antidrug antibodies, data from cohorts provide information about long-term loss of efficacy, switching and also discontinuation strategies. In the meantime, various biosimilars have been approved for infliximab, etanercept and adalimumab. Conventional basic treatment (csDMARDs) and in particular intra-articular administration of glucocorticoids can only be prescribed for axSpA patients with peripheral arthritis.