horsegirl, nigel...its looks like its Rituxan to the rescue in RA. This will be a very interesting development, and perhaps explains idec's great run recently which I have agonized about since selling 20 points ago.
Monday October 30, 5:15 am Eastern Time
Genentech drug used in radical new arthritis fight
LONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - British scientists have developed a radical new way to treat and potentially cure rheumatoid arthritis, using a drug made by U.S. biotech firm Genentech Inc (NYSE:DNA - news) that kills cells in the immune system.
The research team at University College in London will present its discovery this week at an American College of Rheumatology conference in Philadelphia. An abstract of their findings was published on the college's website www.rheumatology.org.
The UCL trial was financed by a 50,000 pounds grant from Swiss drugs giant Roche , which has European rights to the monoclonal antibody drug rituximab, currently sold as Rituxan to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
The team treated five patients who had suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for an average of 22 years and for whom at least five existing drugs had failed. After 17 months, three patients showed a dramatic improvement. Two others relapsed but were successfully treated after a second course of rituximab.
A formal controlled trial -- testing the drug against a dummy medicine, or placebo -- will now follow.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a so-called automimmune disease in which the body's defences mistakenly attack healthy joints and tissue.
The new approach focuses on the role of B-cells, white blood cells that defend the body against viruses and bacteria by making antibodies that attack invaders.
B-cells can accidentally make antibodies that attack healthy tissue and some of these errant antibodies also trigger the production of copies of themselves. The result can be a self-sustaining attack on joints, which appears in the sufferer as rheumatoid arthritis.
The body responds to the destruction of its B-cells by making fresh ones. The UCL team believes the chances are small that these new B-cells will make the same mistake as their predecessors and trigger a return of rheumatoid arthritis. |
