Rheumatoid Arthritis News and Research

Latest Rheumatoid Arthritis News and Research

Pfizer announces tasocitinib Phase 2 data for plaque psoriasis

Pfizer Inc. today announced that data from a Phase 2 efficacy and safety study of tasocitinib the company's investigational oral JAK inhibitor, met its primary endpoint of a statistically significant greater proportion of patients achieving at least a 75 percent reduction from baseline in PASI (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index) at week 12 in individuals with chronic moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

8 Oct 2010

Myrexis to present MPI-0485520 preclinical data at Annual Scientific Meeting

Myrexis, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel treatments for cancer, today announced it will present a poster at the 74th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ACR/ARHP), to be held November 7-11, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia.

7 Oct 2010

Integra Total Wrist Fusion System to be featured at ASSH Annual Meeting

Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation announced today that it is featuring the Integra Total Wrist Fusion System at the 65th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) on October 7-9, in Boston, Massachusetts.

7 Oct 2010

Chelsea Therapeutics announces underwriters exercise 1.07 million additional shares to cover over-allotments

Chelsea Therapeutics International, Ltd. has completed its previously announced public offering of common stock and announced that the underwriters exercised their option to purchase approximately 1.07 million additional shares to cover over-allotments.

7 Oct 2010

Biogen to present late-stage clinical therapies for MS at ECTRIMS Congress

Biogen Idec today announced that more than 45 company and partner-sponsored platform and poster presentations will be presented during the 26th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) in Gothenburg, Sweden, October 13 - 16, 2010.

6 Oct 2010

Amgen to present oncology portfolio results at ESMO Congress

Amgen today announced that results from several important studies from the Company's ncology portfolio will be presented at the 35th European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress, Oct. 8-12, 2010, in Milan, Italy.

6 Oct 2010

CPF honors three critical areas of leadership for Pulmonary Fibrosis community

The Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis (CPF) has announced its annual awards honoring three critical areas of leadership that impact the work of the Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF) community.

5 Oct 2010

Amgen announces PRIME '203' and '181' Phase 3 trial results

Amgen today announced that results from the PRIME '203' and '181' pivotal Phase 3 trials evaluating Vectibix (panitumumab) in combination with chemotherapy (FOLFOX or FOLFIRI) as a first and second-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), respectively, were published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

5 Oct 2010

Merck's boceprevir Phase III studies for HCV to be presented at 61st AASLD

Merck today announced that final results from two pivotal Phase III studies of boceprevir, its investigational oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor, will be presented in oral plenary sessions at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), which is taking place from Oct. 29 through Nov. 2 in Boston. Results for boceprevir in response-guided therapy strategies, which evaluated treatment durations shorter than current standard therapy, will be presented during the meeting.

4 Oct 2010

Chelsea prices common stock public offering

Chelsea Therapeutics International, Ltd. announced today that it has priced a public offering of approximately 7.14 million shares of its common stock at a price of $4.90 per share which will result in gross proceeds of $35 million. Net proceeds to the company, after underwriting discounts and commissions and expenses, will be approximately $32.8 million.

1 Oct 2010

Avila commences AVL-292 Phase 1 clinical study for B cell cancers and autoimmune diseases

Avila Therapeutics™, Inc., a biotechnology company developing targeted covalent drugs, announced today that it has initiated a phase 1 clinical trial to assess the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic profile of AVL-292, a novel, orally available, covalent drug that targets Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk). AVL-292 is the first product candidate to enter clinical evaluation from Avila's proprietary covalent drug platform, Avilomics™.

30 Sep 2010

Rigel earns $25M milestone payment from Astrazeneca for clinical development of fostamatinib

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has earned $25 million from AstraZeneca for the fulfillment of two major milestones in the agreement the two companies have regarding the clinical development of fostamatinib (R788), a novel oral syk inhibitor. The first milestone is for initiation of the phase 3 clinical program with fostamatinib in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that was announced by AstraZeneca earlier today.

29 Sep 2010

XOMA completes patient enrollment in XOMA 052 Phase 2a trial

XOMA Ltd., a leader in the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies, announced that patient enrollment was recently completed for the company's Phase 2a trial of XOMA 052 in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

29 Sep 2010

Combination therapy reduces radiographic evidence of joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis: Study

A study conducted at Copenhagen University Hospital showed that treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), glucocorticoids, biologic agents, or a combination of agents significantly reduced radiographic evidence of joint destruction, with a relative effect of 48%-72% as compared with placebo.

29 Sep 2010

Further trials needed to determine clinical application of Abatacept in SLE

Results from a 12-month multi-center clinical trial did not show therapeutic benefit of abatacept over placebo in patients with non-life threatening systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Abatacept failed to prevent new disease flares in SLE patients tapered from corticosteroids in an analysis where mild, moderate and severe disease flares were evaluated together. Full details of the phase IIb clinical trial are published in the October issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).

29 Sep 2010

Galapagos initiates phase II clinical study of GLPG0259 drug in RA patients

Galapagos NV announced today that it has started a Phase II clinical study for the Company's flagship program GLPG0259, a novel drug being developed for rheumatoid arthritis. In this clinical trial, the safety and efficacy of this novel candidate drug will be tested in RA patients. Galapagos plans to announce interim results by the middle of next year and complete the trial by the end of 2011.

28 Sep 2010

Chelsea Therapeutics initiates CH-4051 Phase II trial in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Chelsea Therapeutics International, Ltd. has initiated enrollment in a multinational, 12-week, double-blind Phase II trial designed to compare the efficacy and tolerability of CH-4051 against methotrexate (MTX) in 250 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are experiencing an inadequate response to MTX treatment.

27 Sep 2010

REMURA Phase 2 clinical study results highlighted at Tear Film & Ocular Surface conference

ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today highlighted results from the Company's REMURA (bromfenac ophthalmic solution for dry eye) Phase 2 clinical study.

27 Sep 2010

Study finds increasing number of elderly people are prone to celiac diseases

Working to solve the puzzle of when people develop celiac disease has led researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Celiac Research to some surprising findings. They have found that the autoimmune disorder is on the rise with evidence of increasing cases in the elderly.

27 Sep 2010

Researchers identify cellular/molecular defect in T cell regulatory pathway

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have identified a defect in the T cell regulatory pathway which normally controls autoreactive T cells that attack the body's own tissues and organs. A majority of people with Type 1 diabetes who were tested in the study were found to have the newly-identified cellular/molecular defect, and the researchers were able to successfully correct the defect in-vitro.

27 Sep 2010