Comparative study of both versions of an immunoassay commercialized for therapeutic drug monitoring of adalimumab in rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To describe the results of the comparative study between both versions of an immunoassay commercialized for therapeutic drug monitoring of adalimumab (ADA) in rheumatoid arthritis (AR). MATERIAL AND METHODS 140 samples of patients with RA treated with ADA 40mg every 14 days were analyzed by both versions of the test (V1 or previous and V2 or updated). RESULTS A good correlation was obtained by both versions. In general V2 provides higher results of ADA's concentration than V1 and presents greater precision in the range of concentrations for clinical decisions, adjusting for the real concentration of the drug in blood. In addition, V2 allows for complete automation, which simplifies the analysis and reduces significantly the variability. CONCLUSION ADA's monitoring with the updated version demonstrated to have technical significant advantages, constituting a more practical tool for therapeutic decisions in patients with RA.