BMS drug proves effective against arthritis

The new drug appears to offer pain relief and increased mobility to rheumatoid arthritis patients who have exhausted their other medical treatment options.

Dr Mark Genovese, Stanford University associate professor of medicine, led the six-month multicenter trial. His findings show patients were more than twice as likely to have significant improvement with the new drug than with standard therapy.

Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are characterized by an overactive immune system that turns its attack to body tissues instead of invading microbes. T cells are immune cells thought to play a major role in the development of rheumatoid arthritis. Orencia (abatacept) is the first of a class of drugs, called co-stimulation blockers, that selectively impede one of the two signals needed to activate T cells.

“It’s exciting to have a therapy with a new mechanism of action,” said Genovese. “In the next few years we are going to get an increasing sense of who the best patients are for this therapy and even whether patients with other autoimmune diseases might benefit.”

Bristol-Myers Squibb is also testing the drug for use in lupus.