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news.UCB, a Belgium-based biopharmaceutical company, has said Cimzia, the only approved PEGylated anti-TNF for the treatment of moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA), plus methotrexate (MTX), versus placebo plus MTX provided a significant improvement in patient physical function, fatigue and pain.
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The analysis evaluated data from two large multinational Phase III, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies (RAPID 1 and 2) comparing the efficacy and safety of certolizumab pegol plus MTX versus placebo plus MTX.
The data showed that a clinically meaningful reduction in RA symptoms was associated with improved productivity at work outside and within the home, as achieved in patients treated with certolizumab pegol plus MTX. five times as many patients treated with certolizumab pegol plus MTX versus placebo plus MTX reported clinically meaningful improvements in RA-associated pain, and two-to-three times as many patients recorded improvements in physical function and fatigue1.
Improvements were seen in productivity at paid work, with reductions in presenteeism (days with productivity at paid work reduced by =50%) by Week 12 being associated with clinically meaningful relief of pain (mean decreases of -6.0 vs. -2.1 days) and fatigue (mean decreases of -6.0 vs -2.7 days), and clinically meaningful improvement in physical function (mean decreases of -6.4 vs -1.9 days).