Chronic inflammatory rheumatism which affects the most people, rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory disease of the joints, which swell and become deformed. Left untreated, it can become extremely disabling.
The therapeutic trial led by Sanofi and Regeneron, lasted 52 weeks and involved 1,197 patients, suffering from moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis and not responding to treatment with methotrexate (considered the reference treatment and prescribed first). The results were presented at the EULAR Congress (European League Against Rheumatism).
“Improvement in signs and symptoms of the disease”
The phase III trial (just before the marketing application) highlights encouraging results for the experimental drug sarilumab: “sarilumab met the three co-primary endpoints and demonstrated an improvement in the signs and symptoms of disease at 24 weeks, physical function at 16 weeks and inhibition of joint damage progression at 52 weeks,” the two pharmaceutical groups state.
While emphasizing the positive results, Dr. Mark Genovese, professor at the American University of Stanford and principal investigator of the study, relativizes and awaits the conclusions of the other trials in progress: “despite notable progress, many patients with rheumatoid arthritis continue to show disabling signs and symptoms, highlighting the need for additional treatment options.”
