RESEARCH - Orencia does not increase malignancies in RA patients

[Guest guest]

Abatacept Does Not Increase Malignancies in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Dec 10 - Abatacept, an agent that modifies

the costimulatory signal required for T-cell activation, does not

increase malignancy rates in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA),

according to researchers reporting on clinical trial safety data.

Abatacept is effective in RA, but its potential risk for rare adverse

events such as malignancies is not yet clear - and as lead author Dr.

Theresa A. Simon from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hopewell, New Jersey, and

colleagues point out, " The risk of malignancy is of particular

importance in patients who receive immunomodulatory therapies. "

For their report in the December ls of the Rheumatic Diseases, the

investigators analyzed data from seven clinical trials involving 4134

abatacept-treated RA patients in Europe and North America.

The age- and sex-adjusted incidence ratio of total malignancies was

0.61 per 100 person-years with abatacept treatment, compared with 0.63

per 100 person-years in placebo groups.

********************************************

Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/713640

Not an MD