Ankylosing spondylitis causes inflammation in the spine and sometimes other joints, leading to pain and stiffness that's often worst in the morning. It affects about 1 in 200 people, typically starting before age 40. Treatment includes NSAIDs, TNF inhibitors like adalimumab, and newer IL-17 inhibitors like secukinumab that can control inflammation and prevent spinal fusion.
What's actually going on in research
Trials are testing JAK inhibitors that work faster than biologics, new IL-17 blockers with longer intervals between doses, and drugs targeting other immune pathways like IL-23. Researchers are also studying whether early aggressive treatment can prevent permanent damage, and exploring treatments for the fatigue and gut symptoms that often accompany the disease.
JAK inhibitors
Oral JAK inhibitors like upadacitinib showed strong results in recent trials and offer an alternative to injections. They work within weeks and may help people who haven't responded to TNF or IL-17 blockers.
Early intervention
Studies are testing whether treating people at the first signs of disease—before X-rays show damage—can prevent spinal fusion. This approach could preserve mobility for decades.
Dual pathway blocking
Some trials are testing drugs that block two immune signals at once, like bimekizumab which blocks IL-17A and IL-17F. Early results suggest this may work better than blocking one pathway alone.
What to know before you search
Eligibility typically depends on disease duration, inflammatory markers like CRP, response to NSAIDs, whether you've tried biologics before, and presence of active inflammation on imaging.
What types of trials are currently open
- Treatment trials — Testing new biologics or JAK inhibitors against existing treatments to see which controls inflammation and symptoms more effectively.
- Prevention trials — Testing whether early treatment in people with inflammatory back pain can prevent progression to ankylosing spondylitis with spinal damage.
- Head-to-head trials — Comparing different approved drugs directly to see which works better, since most trials have only tested new drugs against placebo.
- Extra-articular trials — Testing treatments specifically for the eye inflammation, inflammatory bowel symptoms, or skin psoriasis that often occur with AS.
- Imaging studies — Using MRI and other imaging to track inflammation and structural damage over time and predict who will respond to which treatments.
Recently added Ankylosing Spondylitis trials
Receive a nerve block injection to relieve persistent back pain
Despite adequate control of disease activity with standard medical therapies, there remains an ongoing need for complementary and interventional approaches for the management of persistent back pain in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Although the erector spinae plane block has been described in the literature as a safe and effective analgesic intervention for chronic back pain in various patient populations, to the best of our knowledge, no clinical study has specifically evaluated its use for persistent back pain in patients with ankylosing spondylitis receiving medical treatment. Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the effects of erector spinae plane block on pain severity and clinical outcomes in patients with ankylosing spondylitis whose disease activity is controlled under treatment but who continue to experience persistent back pain.
Complete posture and balance tests while reporting smartphone usage
The purpose of this cross-sectional and comparative study is to investigate the impact of smartphone addiction on the cervical posture, musculoskeletal system, balance, and tongue pressure in individuals diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), and to compare these findings with a healthy control group. Smartphone addiction has become a major contributing factor to postural alterations such as Text Neck Syndrome. This study aims to evaluate and compare the Craniovertebral Angle (CVA), neck extensor muscle strength, Pressure Pain Thresholds (PPT) of the neck and shoulder, Single-Leg Stance (SLS) static balance, and tongue pressure among three distinct groups. A healthy control group will be included as a reference baseline to differentiate the postural and functional deterioration caused by rheumatological diseases from the additional mechanical load imposed by smartphone dependency. To eliminate the misleading effects of acute pain, joint swelling, and severe functional limitations during flare-ups, only patients with stable disease activity (DAS28 \< 3.2 for RA and BASDAI \< 4 for AS) will be enrolled. This approach aims to examine the pure biomechanical relationship between technological dependency and cervical functions, independent of active systemic inflammation.
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