Biopharmaceuticals help pinpoint the causes of inflammatory joint disease
A spate of papers presented at the 66th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) in New Orleans opens the way forward for treating patients with inflammatory joint disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis, using products that tackle the root causes of their condition rather than symptomatic treatment with painkillers or anti-inflammatories. The results of trials of monoclonal antibodies and biosynthetic receptor proteins suggest that biological mechanisms suspected to be responsible for crippling, progressive disease are now confirmed and better understood.
Among the data reported at the ACR Meeting were results of clinical studies involving patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with Remicade® (infliximab) or Rituxan® (rituximab) or Kineret® (anakinra) or Enbrel® (etanercept).
Keywords : Clinical trials Rheumatoid arthritis Ankylosing spondylitis Inflammatory disease Monoclonal antibodies TNF receptors Interleukin receptors
