A two-week interruption to methotrexate therapy can double the antibody response to COVID-19 booster vaccines in adults with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, new research shows.

Although this short drug holiday was associated with more disease flare-ups, UK clinicians say most were self-managed and had no adverse impact on patient quality of life.

“This intervention is simple, low-cost, and easy to implement, and could potentially translate to increased vaccine efficacy and duration of protection for susceptible groups,” the University of Nottingham-led team concluded.

In the randomised, open-label trial, they used data from 254 patients (mean age 59) with immune-mediated inflammatory disease — including psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and rheumatoid arthritis — who were due for their third dose of COVID-19 vaccination.