Guest guest Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 MEMBERS LOGIN NEW USERS REGISTER BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP HOME DELIVERY OFFERS News Sports Business Entertainment Multimedia Marketplace NY Newsday.com Site Search HOMEPAGE LONG ISLAND NEW YORK CITY NATION | STATE WORLD HEALTH / SCIENCE SPORTS BUSINESS OPINION ENTERTAINMENT FEATURES OBITUARIES PHOTOS Multimedia • TODAY'S VIDEO9/11 confusion • More Photos • NYC Photos • FeedRoom Videos Find It Fast EVENTS MOVIES KIDZ FOOD AP TOP NEWS TRAVEL SPORTS SCORES TRAFFIC 5-DAY FORECAST MARINE FORECAST CROSSWORDS CONTACT US ARCHIVES Today's Newspaper Extras WB11 DSA Community Publishing HOYNews in Spanish On Wall Street Symbol Lookup Long Island | New York City | Nation | World | Health/Science | State | Obituaries | Columnists Student Briefing | Schools | Crime & Courts | Election 2004 | LI Life | Our Towns | Corrections Friday, June 18, 2004 New arthritis drug shows promise Email this story Printer friendly format Top Stories NASA Lags in Shuttle Patch Development Race for space: 'X' marks the spot Challenging focus of cancer research Drugmaker to post trial results Cigarette promotions target kids, AG says Enter a Category View List THE ASSOCIATED PRESSJune 17, 2004 BOSTON - For the first time, a drug has relieved rheumatoid arthritis by knocking out a certain type of immune cell - an approach that could open the way for precisely targeted "smart" treatments for the joint disease and other illnesses.Other arthritis drugs on the market either treat just the symptoms or employ a broader, more scattershot effect against the underlying process. Such drugs can have toxic side effects because they kill healthy cells with the diseased ones. The latest research, an international study led at University College London and published in today's New England Journal of Medicine, looked at a drug called rituximab, and the results were promising."I think this is a pivotal study," said Dr. Klippel, president of the Arthritis Foundation. "This is opening up a new era of targeted biologic therapies for rheumatoid arthritis."In rheumatoid arthritis, antibodies misdirect friendly fire against the body's own joint linings. Joints become inflamed, swollen and painful. More than 2 million Americans, mostly women, have the disease.Rituximab, sold under the brand name Rituxan and approved for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, targets B cells, which manufacture these antibodies.The researchers compared rituximab to other drugs in 161 patients with arthritis. For two weeks, patients took rituximab alone or with two other drugs: the standard drug, methotrexate, and the less widely used cyclophosphamide. Another group took methotrexate alone. Roche, a distributor of rituximab, funded and participated in the study.After six months, more than 40 percent of patients who took rituximab combinations were greatly improved. One- third of patients on rituximab alone were greatly improved. But only 13 percent of those on the standard drug alone improved that much."One of the things that is truly unique is that a very short course ... appears to have a very long-lasting effect," Klippel said.Some doctors, including the study's authors, said rituximab needs more testing before any widespread use.They said other B-cell-killing drugs are being developed. Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc. Site Search Quick Picks Photos of the Day Calendar Movies Cartoon Comics Columns Stocks Schools Scores Photos | Impulse! Today's Newsday Madonna fans flock to MSG for show Mets Forum: Offense or offensive? U.S. Open leaderboard Poll: Is n clean? News Sports Business Entertainment Multimedia Marketplace NY Newsday.com Long Island | New York City | Nation | World | Health/Science | State | Obituaries | Columnists Student Briefing | Schools | Crime & Courts | Election 2004 | LI Life | Our Towns | Corrections By visiting this site you agree to the terms of the Newsday.com User Agreement. Read our Privacy Policy.Copyright © Newsday, Inc. Produced by Newsday Electronic Publishing.About Us | E-mail directory | How to Advertise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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