Teprotumumab for the Treatment of Active Thyroid Eye Disease

Thyroid eye disease is a debilitating, disfiguring, and potentially blinding periocular condition for which no Food and Drug Administration-approved medical therapy is available. Strong evidence has implicated the insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-IR) in the pathogenesis of this disease.

In a randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled, phase 3 multicenter trial, we assigned patients with active thyroid eye disease in a 1:1 ratio to receive intravenous infusions of the IGF-IR inhibitor teprotumumab (10 mg per kilogram of body weight for the first infusion and 20 mg per kilogram for subsequent infusions) or placebo once every 3 weeks for 21 weeks; the last trial visit for this analysis was at week 24. The primary outcome was a proptosis response (a reduction in proptosis of ≥2 mm) at week 24. Prespecified secondary outcomes at week 24 were an overall response (a reduction of ≥2 points in the Clinical Activity Score plus a reduction in proptosis of ≥2 mm), a Clinical Activity Score of 0 or 1 (indicating no or minimal inflammation), the mean change in proptosis across trial visits (from baseline through week 24), a diplopia response (a reduction in diplopia of ≥1 grade), and the mean change in overall score on the Graves' ophthalmopathy-specific quality-of-life (GO-QOL) questionnaire across trial visits (from baseline through week 24; a mean change of ≥6 points is considered clinically meaningful).

A total of 41 patients were assigned to the teprotumumab group and 42 to the placebo group. At week 24, the percentage of patients with a proptosis response was higher with teprotumumab than with placebo (83% [34 patients] vs. 10% [4 patients], P<0.001), with a number needed to treat of 1.36. All secondary outcomes were significantly better with teprotumumab than with placebo, including overall response (78% of patients [32] vs. 7% [3]), Clinical Activity Score of 0 or 1 (59% [24] vs. 21% [9]), the mean change in proptosis (-2.82 mm vs. -0.54 mm), diplopia response (68% [19 of 28] vs. 29% [8 of 28]), and the mean change in GO-QOL overall score (13.79 points vs. 4.43 points) (P≤0.001 for all). Reductions in extraocular muscle, orbital fat volume, or both were observed in 6 patients in the teprotumumab group who underwent orbital imaging. Most adverse events were mild or moderate in severity; two serious events occurred in the teprotumumab group, of which one (an infusion reaction) led to treatment discontinuation.

Among patients with active thyroid eye disease, teprotumumab resulted in better outcomes with respect to proptosis, Clinical Activity Score, diplopia, and quality of life than placebo; serious adverse events were uncommon. (Funded by Horizon Therapeutics; OPTIC ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03298867, and EudraCT number, 2017-002763-18.).