‘Exciting’ trial results bring hope for victims of rheumatoid arthritis

An international study found antibody drug tocilizumab to be almost four times more likely to halt progression of the condition than the most widely prescribed alternative.

It also achieved significantly greater reduction in disease signs and symptoms after six months.

Scientists compared tocilizumab, marketed as RoActemra, with the “anti-TNF” drug adalimumab (Humira).

The drugs were tested in a group of 326 patients unable to take the mainstay treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), methotrexate (MTX), which is ruled out for roughly a third of patients, many of whom suffer unbearable side effects such as vomiting, hair loss and mouth ulcers.

Such individuals generally move onto anti-TNF drugs, which target a molecule called tumour necrosis factor that promotes inflammation. But Tocilizumab works by targeting another inflammatory protein, interleukin six (IL-6).

Consultant rheumatologist Professor Paul Emery, from the University of Leeds, who took part in the Adacta trial, said: “These results are impressive and important for the 30 per cent of patients with RA who cannot take methotrexate. ”

The findings were presented in Berlin at Eular, the annual meeting of the European Congress of Rheumatology.

Professor John Isaacs, a rheumatology expert from the University of Newcastle, said: “These results are very important and exciting.”

At £9,500 per patient per year, RoActemra costs about the same as Humira. An estimated 646,000 people in the UK have RA, a painful and disabling condition.