From Reuters: A company-sponsored study released Wednesday suggests that an experimental drug may ease symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. An excerpt:
Rheumatoid arthritis, which attacks the joints, affects about 2.1 million Americans and conventional treatments fail in 1 out of 7 cases. The experimental drug, the first of a new class of medicines known as co-stimulation blockers, is variously known as CTLA4Ig or BMS-188667. It works by slowing the body’s response to inflammation. In the six-month experiment, researchers found that the drug reduced pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints by at least 20 percent in 3 out of 5 patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
