Activery The amorphization specialist
Activery believes that amorphous drugs provide new and innovative routes to final dosage forms with differentiated pharmacokinetics
| New combination for rheumatoid arthritis: tocilizumb with methotrexate |
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New drug combination may halt rheumatoid arthritisNovember 9, 2008 | Trial data seems to suggest that a monthly injection may help to halt rheumatoid arthritis in almost half of all patients. To halt the condition in which the body attacks its own joints, the antibody drug tocilizumb works together with a current treatment methotrexate. The drug is still awaiting for approval by drugs regulators in the US and Europe and Roche will sell it under the brand name RoActemra after approval. The study has been presented at a meeting of the American College of Rheumatology. Though it is said that nothing can be done to reverse the damage that occurs due to RA, the new results indicate that if two drugs are taken together, they can get remission by halting the disease progression. The trials (involving 1,190 patients) showed that the use of tocilizumab with methotrexate halted the condition in 47% of patients while it was only 8% when methotrexate was given alone. X-rays revealed that the use of two drugs slowed joints structural damage by 85% on average. The lead author of the study Professor Paul Emery says: “The results of the study show that tocilizumb can quickly decrease the painful and debilitating effects of RA.” There are also many other drugs available that help to halt RA disease progression, but there use is restricted in the UK and some other countries |
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