Roche boasts new data supporting Actemra, MabThera

Roche announced that a fifth Phase III rheumatoid arthritis study confirmed disease remission in patients treated with Actemra. Investigators reported that the therapy can halt structural damage to joints and improve physical function after one year of treatment.

"The outcome of this study is good news for RA patients as presently many either fail to achieve an adequate response or cannot tolerate therapies currently available," said William M. Burns, head of the Roche Pharma Division. "New treatment options are needed, particularly those that can target different pathways to bring relief and inhibit joint damage in patients suffering from RA."

Roche also says another study of MabThera demonstrated that rheumatoid arthritis patients responded well to treatments over a long period of time. The volunteers in the study had not responded well to tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, standard frontline therapies for RA.

"Prolonged treatment with MabThera clearly demonstrates an improvement in symptoms for patients with rheumatoid arthritis who do not respond adequately to TNF inhibitor therapy," said Professor Edward Keystone, Rheumatology Department at the University of Toronto, Canada.

- read the Roche release on Actemra
- check out the release on MabThera

ALSO: Galapagos NV says that Nanocort has demonstrated safety as well as a faster and more pronounced decrease in rheumatoid arthritis disease symptoms compared to reference medication in a Phase I/II study. Release

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