Battling Arthritis

In Northern Ireland, a major clinical trial will focus on children suffering from arthritis — not only for the betterment of its treatment but also to reduce brittle bones (osteopenia) in this children as a result of steroid treatments.

The said clinical trial - funded by the Arthritis Research Campaign and is being lead by Consultant Rheumatologist Dr Madeleine Rooney - aims to recruit about 40 local youngsters aged between four and 18 and is being conducted at the Belfast’s Musgrave Park Hospital. More →

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Roche Holding AG’s arthritis drug Actemra™ just won Japanese approval, which will then be sold by Roche’s Chugai unit.

Actemra is the first humanized interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor-inhibiting monoclonal antibody. An extensive clinical development program of five Phase III trials was designed to evaluate clinical findings of Actemra.

Four studies are completed and have reported meeting their primary endpoints. A fifth trial, a two-year study called LITHE (TociLIzumab safety and THE prevention of structural joint damage), is currently underway and is expected to report preliminary first-year data in 2008.

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I already said that arthritis does not happen in adults alone. Young people can get arthritis as well.

In fact, an estimated 294,000 U.S. children and teenagers under age 18 (or one in 250 children) have been diagnosed with arthritis or another rheumatologic condition.

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