BLOG POST - Did the patient fail the treatment or did we fail the patient?

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Did the patient fail the treatment or did we fail the patient?

ScienceBlogs.com

Terra Sigillata

Category: Biotechnology • Clinical trials • Pharmacology • Stuff I

don't know about • The Working Scientist

Posted on: January 9, 2010 8:02 AM, by Abel Pharmboy

While the coffee wasn't quite ready this morning, I ventured to the

Wall Street Journal health page at the Wall Street Journal, one of my

frequent first-reads.

I was immediately intrigued by a short article from the excellent

Corbett Dooren about Roche-Genentech gaining US FDA approval

for a new rheumatoid arthritis drug, Actemra.

Actemra (tocilizumab) is a monoclonal antibody that works via a novel

mechanism of blocking the receptor for interleukin-6, a

pro-inflammatory molecule called a cytokine. What is most important is

that Actemra appears to work in patients who have not been helped by

other existing drugs such as those like Remicade (infliximab), Enbrel

(etanercept), Humira (adalimumab) that block the effects of another

cytokine called TNF-alpha.

Rheumatoid arthritis is not just joint aches and pains. It is a very

serious disease that can cause not just pain but deformity and

progressive disability. Rheumatoid arthritis afflicts 1.3 million

people in the US.

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Read the full post here:

http://scienceblogs.com/terrasig/2010/01/did_the_patient_fail_the_treat.php

Not an MD