New drug for rheumatoid arthritis

16 June 2008 05:53am

A new "smart" drug could save thousands of rheumatoid arthritis patients from years of worsening pain and disability, research has shown.

Tocilizumab is being hailed as a major breakthrough in combating the crippling auto-immune disease which attacks the joints.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the biggest cause of disability in the UK, affecting 420,000 people in England and Wales alone.

Trial results show that the new drug is nearly three times more effective at halting progression of the disease than the standard therapy given to most patients.

There is also evidence that it can help difficult to manage patients with more advanced disease whose treatment options are running out.

Tocilizumab is not yet licensed for use in Europe or the UK, but is expected to be launched in Britain within six months.

The drug is a laboratory-made antibody that targets a biological signalling pathway linked to inflammation and RA.

It represents a step forward from MabThera, another antibody drug for rheumatoid arthritis, which is only available to late-stage patients who have ceased to respond to other therapies.

Both drugs are from the stable of pharmaceutical giants Roche, which collaborated with the Japanese company Chugai Pharma to develop tocilizumab.

Data from two clinical trials of the new drug were presented at the annual meeting of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) in Paris.

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