We randomly assigned 958 patients to receive 5 mg or 10 mg of tofacitinib twice
daily or methotrexate at a dose that was incrementally increased to 20 mg per week
over 8 weeks; 956 patients received a study drug. The coprimary end points at
month 6 were the mean change from baseline in the van der Heijde modified total
Sharp score (which ranges from 0 to 448, with higher scores indicating greater
structural joint damage) and the proportion of patients with an American College
of Rheumatology (ACR) 70 response (≥70% reduction in the number of both tender
and swollen joints and ≥70% improvement in three of five other criteria: the patient’s
assessment of pain, level of disability, C-reactive protein level or erythrocyte
sedimentation rate, global assessment of disease by the patient, and global assessment
of disease by the physician).