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Pharmaceutical company Pfizer has announced that Xeljanz, also called tofacitinib citrate - a new twice daily oral tablet to reduce inflammation in adults with rheumatoid arthritis, has been granted a license for UK use.

It can also be used as a therapy in case of intolerance to methotrexate or when treatment with methotrexate is inappropriate.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a serious and disabling autoimmune disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy body tissue.

It affects more than 690,000 people in the UK, of which over 500,000 are women and around three-quarters are of working age.

People with rheumatoid arthritis experience a range of symptoms, including pain and swelling in the joints, tiredness and depression which can affect their daily lives, from their ability to do basic everyday tasks like buttoning a shirt,to the possibility of having to stop work as a result of their condition.

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The prognosis for people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis has been completely transfor

Alisa Bosworth

Though different treatments are available, there are still some people who may not respond to existing therapies or are intolerant to them.

Tofacitinib citrate belongs to a new class of medications known as JAK inhibitors.

JAK inhibitors directly target the signalling pathway which contributes to the inflammation of joints seen in the condition.

The prognosis for people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis has been completely transformed over the past two decades, said Ailsa Bosworth, founder and chief executive of the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society.

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But not every patient responds to their treatment and people can still experience significant limitations to what they can do and achieve because of their condition so, in spite of fantastic progress in rheumatology, there remains a need for different treatments.

We therefore welcome any innovative new advances that can offer additional options, she added.

Tofacitinib citrate was the first of these types of inhibitors to be licensed for rheumatoid arthritis in the US and is currently licensed in over 50 countries.

It has been prescribed to more than 55,000 patients worldwide.

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There have been 19 clinical trials to date and Pfizer said it has collected eight years of safety data on the medicine.

Studies have demonstrated that tofacitinib citrate is an effective treatment option for rheumatoid arthritis.

The most common side-effects are upper respiratory tract infections, headaches, diarrhoea and nasopharyngitis.

Dr Berkeley Phillips, Pfizer UKs Medical Director, said: This medicine, which has a novel mode of action, has been two decades in the making.

The granting of marketing authorisation for tofacitinib citrate in Europe marks a huge step towards making this treatment available to patients with rheumatoid arthritis in the UK. Pfizer will now work with national reimbursement agencies on the review process towards the potential reimbursement of this new medicine on the NHS."

See the article here:
New drug could fight symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis - including joint pain and swelling - Express.co.uk

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