Genentech, Inc, and Biogen IDEC, who filed in October for US Food and Drug Administration approval to market rituximab (Rituxan®) as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, announced that 27% of rituximab patients who had previously failed to respond adequately to methotrexate and anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) therapy such as etanercept (Enbrel®; Amgen Inc) and adalimumab (Humira®; Abbott Laboratories) achieved a 50% improvement in symptoms (ACR 50) compared with a 5% response rate for those patients given placebo. Approximately 12% of the rituximab patients achieved ACR 70 compared with 1% of those on placebo. The complete study results of the 520-patient, 6-month trial were presented at the 69th Annual Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in San Diego, California.  

—A. Techman