Inebilizumab for Treatment of IgG4-Related Disease

IgG4-related disease is a multiorgan, relapsing, fibroinflammatory, immune-mediated disorder with no approved therapy. Inebilizumab targets and depletes CD19+ B cells and may be effective for treating patients with IgG4-related disease.

In this phase 3, multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, adults with active IgG4-related disease underwent randomization in a 1:1 ratio to receive inebilizumab (300-mg intravenous infusions on days 1 and 15 and week 26) or placebo for a 52-week treatment period. Participants in both groups received identical glucocorticoid tapers. Glucocorticoids were allowed to treat disease flares, but background immunosuppressants were not permitted. The primary end point was the first treated, adjudicated disease flare during the treatment period, assessed in a time-to-event analysis. Key secondary end points were the annualized flare rate and treatment-free and glucocorticoid-free complete remission.

A total of 135 participants with IgG4-related disease underwent randomization: 68 participants were assigned to receive inebilizumab and 67 were assigned to receive placebo. Treatment with inebilizumab reduced flare risk; 7 participants (10%) in the inebilizumab group had at least one flare, as compared with 40 participants (60%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.13; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.06 to 0.28; P<0.001). The annualized flare rate was lower with inebilizumab than with placebo (rate ratio, 0.14; 95% CI, 0.06 to 0.31; P<0.001). More participants in the inebilizumab group than in the placebo group had flare-free, treatment-free complete remission (odds ratio, 4.68; 95% CI, 2.21 to 9.91; P<0.001) and flare-free, glucocorticoid-free complete remission (odds ratio, 4.96; 95% CI, 2.34 to 10.52; P<0.001). Serious adverse events occurred during the treatment period in 12 of the participants (18%) who received inebilizumab and 6 of the participants (9%) who received placebo.

Inebilizumab reduced the risk of flares of IgG4-related disease and increased the likelihood of flare-free complete remission at 1 year, confirming the role of CD19-targeted B-cell depletion as a potential treatment for IgG4-related disease. (Funded by Amgen; MITIGATE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04540497.).