Amgen’s arthritis treatment effective for children

The findings have been described as highly significant for systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SoJIA) patients for whom previous therapies have failed.

In a study of nine SoJIA patients who had not responded to traditional treatment regimens, researchers tested the hypothesis that oversecretion of IL-1b significantly influences the development of SoJIA. In addition, the study evaluated the theory that inhibiting IL-1b activity would benefit patients with SoJIA.

Each patient received Anakinra, a drug which inactivates IL-1. All nine patients responded to the therapy, while seven patients had systemic symptoms, such as fever. A week after the first treatment the fever was gone from all seven, and did not return for the length of the one-year follow up.

Eight of the nine patients tested had active arthritis. In these patients researchers observed decreases in the arthritic symptoms in the joints as well as improvement of hemoglobin levels, white blood cell count and a number of other indicators of arthritis. They found that the therapy completely restored the function of six of the eight patients and lessened the symptoms of the remaining two.

“Most of the children in our study have suffered from persistent fever and arthritis for years. Additionally, they have suffered from side effects resulting from conventional medications. Through this research, we found that we could not only control the disease, but also allow these children to grow and carry out normal lives,” said Dr Virginia Pascual of the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research.