RESEARCH - Encouraging preliminary results with oral JAK inhibitor in RA

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Encouraging Preliminary Results With Oral JAK Inhibitor in Rheumatoid Arthritis

October 22, 2009 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) — An investigational

oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor achieved significant responses in

patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) when used alone or in

combination with methotrexate, according to preliminary clinical

trials reported here at American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2009.

Based on these positive results, the drug will be moved forward to

phase 3 trials, researchers announced. Both studies were sponsored by

Pfizer.

Molecule CP 690,550 " is truly unique as a biologic agent targeted to a

specific molecule — the JAK — which activates the cell nucleus to

produce multiple cytokines and proinflammatory factors implicated in

inflammation and in RA. It is also an oral targeted agent, " said

M. Kremer, MD, Pfaff Family Professor of Medicine at Albany Medical

College in New York, and lead author of 1 of 2 phase 2b trials

presented at the meeting. The anti-tumor necrosis factor drugs

currently on the market for the treatment of RA are injectable.

The first study, a 24-week double-blind placebo-controlled trial, was

an evaluation of 384 patients with active RA who failed on background

methotrexate and had longstanding disease. Results were reported by

R.M. Fleischmann, MD, from the Metroplex Clinical Research Center in

Dallas, Texas.

Patients were randomized to 1 of 5 different doses of CP 690,550 (1

mg, 3 mg, 5 mg, 10 mg, or 15 mg twice daily) or placebo. Methotrexate

therapy was discontinued during this 24-week study.

Patients who received a 5, 10, or 15 mg twice-daily dose of the JAK

inhibitor without background methotrexate experienced significant

improvements in ACR response rates and Disease Activity Score (DAS) 28

remission rates at week 24, compared with the placebo group.

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Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/711140

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