StemCell Therapy

Rheumatoid arthritis is a long-term condition that causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints and mainly affects the hands feet and wrists.

AbbVie Inc, pharmaceutical company, said its oral rheumatoid arthritis drug succeeded in a study on patients who had not adequately responded to standard treatments.

The drug, upadacitinib, is a once-daily pill which is a JAK inhibitor, a type of drug which which block inflammation-causing enzymes called Janus kinases.

Participants in the study were treated for 12 weeks with the drug.

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Results showed that after 12 weeks of treatment, both doses of upadacitinib (15 mg and 30 mg) met the study's primary endpoints of ACR20 - criteria set by the American College of Rheumatology for medication, and low disease activity.

"We are excited by these promising results for upadacitinib. Selective inhibition of the JAK1 pathway may offer a novel treatment for rheumatoid arthritis patients who do not adequately respond to conventional therapies," said Michael Severino, executive vice president, research and development and chief scientific officer, AbbVie.

"We are especially encouraged by the results on the more stringent measures of efficacy, such as ACR70, low disease activity and clinical remission.

We look forward to seeing the full results from our Phase 3 program.

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AbbVie's longstanding leadership in the treatment of immune-mediated diseases provides an opportunity to build upon our understanding and develop innovative therapies to address unmet patient needs."

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition, which means it is caused by the immune system attacking healthy body tissue - such as the lining go the joints.

It causes joints to become sore and inflamed and damages bones, cartilage, tendons and ligaments.

If the condition isn't treated, these chemicals gradually cause the joint to lose its shape and alignment.

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We are excited by these promising results for upadacitinib

Treatment for the condition can help reduce inflammation in the joints, slow damage and relieve pain.

The new treatment has been described as encouraging by Professor Gerd Burmeister, from the department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Charit Berlin.

He said: Achieving the target of low disease activity in nearly half of the patients by 12 weeks and doing so at both high and low dose levels is encouraging.

Current treatment recommendations recognise the importance of this clinical target for patients, as achieving low disease activity has remained an unmet need in rheumatoid arthritis."

View original post here:
New drug could fight rheumatoid arthritis symptoms - 'exciting' results for patients - Express.co.uk

This entry was posted on June 8, 2017 at 3:46 pm and is filed under Arthritis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |