NEW YORK (AP) - Biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said
Thursday that according to a study, patients given its drug Orencia to treat a
type of arthritic pain over three years did not see a worsening of the disease.
The study enrolled 433 patients who did not respond adequately to the drug
methotrexate, a common therapy for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
At the end of the first year, 45.7 percent of patients given Orencia in
addition to methotrexate did not experience any worsening in their disease based
on radiographs of joints. By the end of the trial, 68.1 percent of patients who
disease did not progress through their second year saw no worsening through the
end of the third year.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|