Jab hope for rheumatoid arthritis
A monthly injection could halt rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in half of all patients, trial data suggests.
The antibody drug tocilizumab works in conjunction with an existing treatment, methotrexate, to stop the condition in which the body attacks its own joints. The drug, which will be sold under the brand name RoActemra by Roche, is awaiting approval by drugs regulators in Europe and the US. The work was presented at a meeting of the American College of Rheumatology.
Nothing can be done to reverse the damage caused by RA but the new results show the two drugs taken together can achieve remission by stopping progression of the disease. In trials involving 1,190 patients, taking tocilizumab plus methotrexate halted the condition in 47% of patients, compared to only 8% when methotrexate was taken alone. X-rays showed the combination treatment slowed structural damage to joints by 85% on average, compared with 67% for methotrexate alone.
The three stages of testing before a new drug reaches the market. Only a fraction of those that are cleared for human testing make it to development.