New rheumatoid arthritis drug approved by FDA

People in the United States who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis will soon have a new drug available to them. Actemra, made by Roche Holding AG, has just been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, although it’s been approved in Japan and Europe already. Actemra’s technical name is tocilizumab (the chemical name).

Actemra isn’t for everyone who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, though. It’s meant to be used by adults only, and only if their arthritis is moderate or severe. It’s designed to be used by those who have already tried to use other drugs that block tumor necrosis factor, an inflammatory protein, but didn’t see good enough results. It can be used along with methotrexate and other drugs that are disease modifying. It can also be used as a stand-alone drug.

Roche Holding has other anti-TNF therapy drugs, such as Rituxan, so creating Actemra actually creates a competition of likes within the company’s products. They expect Actemra to do really well, though, and think of this as a way to not keep all their eggs in one basket.

Rheumatiod arthritis causes pain, stiffness and even can lead to disability. It is thought to affect at least 20 million people around the world.