Roche arthritis drug beats Humira in clinical study

Swiss drug giant Roche ($RHHBY) has happily unveiled data from a Phase IV study that show its treatment Actemra--marketed in Europe as RoActemra--beat adalimumab or Humira in a head-to-heat study involving patients with rheumatoid arthritis. After 24 weeks of treatment, patients on Actemra monotherapy showed steeper drops in disease activity than those who took Abbott Laboratories' ($ABT) blockbuster drug Humira alone, Reuters reported. These results could become important as companies such as Roche and Abbott jockey for their shares of an increasingly crowded market for RA drugs. Article