Efficacy and Safety Study of Abatacept Subcutaneous Plus Methotrexate in Inducing Remission in Adults With Very Early Rheumatoid Arthritis

Inclusion Criteria

• •Presence of active clinical synovitis in at least 2 joints, 1 of which must have been a small joint, for a minimum of 8 weeks prior to screening
• •Onset of persistent symptoms ≤ 2 years prior to screening
• •Positive test result for anticyclic citrullinated peptides 2
• •Methotrexate naive or with minimum exposure to methotrexate, defined as no more than 10 mg/week for ≤4 weeks and no methotrexate dose for 1 month prior to screening visit
• •Biologic naive, including no treatment with an investigational biologic prior to screening
• •Disease Activity Score 28 based on C-reactive protein score ≥3.2 at screening
• •Withdrawal from any treatment with chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, and/or sulfasalazine (wash-out) for a minimum of 28 days prior to randomization
• •If receiving oral corticosteroids, on a stable low dose (≤ 10 mg/day prednisone equivalent) for at least 4 weeks
• •Able to undergo magnetic resonance imaging