NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In children with chronic uveitis, adalimumab appears more effective than infliximab in maintaining remission, according to a small cohort study by Italian investigators.

Should these results hold up in randomized controlled trials, Dr. Gabriele Simonini told Reuters Health by email “we then may well choose” adalimumab over infliximab. In particular, as infliximab requires intravenous administration and hospitalization.

Dr. Simonini added “This strategy would result in better patient compliance and in a longer efficacy, without losing the therapeutic efficacy and the optimal current standard of care in this therapeutic setting.”

In a November 15th on-line paper in Arthritis Care and Research, Dr. Simonini of the University of Florence and colleagues note that tumor necrosis factor alpha blocking agents have been successfully used to treat the disease.

In a recent trial they established that adalimumab was as effective as infliximab in sight-threatening childhood uveitis, but in another study they found that the effects of infliximab appeared to wane with time.

In the current study, the researchers enrolled 33 children with refractory, vision threatening, noninfectious active uveitis. This was idiopathic uveitis or associated with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, Behcet