Early Phase Study to Assess Efficacy and Safety of AZD9567 Versus Prednisolone in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

This randomized double blind with double dummy technique phase 2a study will be run in 2-3 EU countries, most likely Sweden, Denmark and The Netherlands involving 5-6 sites. It is estimated that 80-100 patients have to be enrolled to ensure the randomization target of 40. The study population is patients with rheumatoid arthritis on stable treatment with conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) with an active flare. It is a two-arm parallel study and the randomization ratio is 1:1 to the two weeks of once daily treatment of 40 mg of AZD9567 and 20 mg prednisolone. The primary objective is to assess the efficacy of AZD9567 40 mg, compared to prednisolone 20 mg in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis in spite of stable treatment with conventional and/or s.c/i.v. biological DMARDs and the primary variable is change from baseline in 28 joint Disease Activity Score using CRP (DAS28 - CRP). As secondary variables swollen and tenderness of 66-68 joints and safety variables are also included. For exploratively purposes there is also a biomarker program, collecting blood samples for future research.