In a new study, researchers showed that people with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) could soon benefit from a new drug treatment that not only suppresses inflammation but also strongly reduces pain.
Otilimab is a monoclonal antibody, biologic drug, which targets and suppresses the inflammatory cytokine GM-CSF.
The research was conducted by a team at the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham.
In the study, the team explored the clinical effects of the drug otilimab to prevent inflammation, tissue damage, and pain in people with RA.
The study examined the effects of five doses of otilimab (22·5 mg, 45 mg, 90 mg, 135 mg, or 180 mg) versus a placebo.
222 patients with active RA received weekly injections for 5 weeks, which was reduced to every other week for one year.
The team found otilimab treatment led to a rapid reduction in tender and swollen joints but patients also reported very significant improvements in pain scores.
The team says the assumption has always been that if drugs suppress inflammation, they will also help suppress pain, but this hasn’t always been the case.
Now, for the first time researchers are seeing a biologic therapy, the first in the rheumatoid space, that offers two for the price of one.
It’s suppressing inflammation, but it’s also helping pain, and that’s very important to the patient.
This study helped lay the groundwork for another study that is measuring the effectiveness of GM- CSF and another anti-inflammatory drug (anti TNF) in the treatment of COVID-19.
One author of the study is Professor Chris Buckley.
The study is published in The Lancet Rheumatology.
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