ATLANTA -- Phase III data for tasocitinib, an investigational oral JAK inhibitor, showed significant benefit for rheumatoid arthritis patients in two out of three primary endpoints and a trend favoring the drug for the third, researchers said here.
Responses at the ACR20 level (at least a 20% reduction in symptom scores) after three months were seen in 65.7% of patients receiving the drug at 10 mg twice a day and in 59.8% of those taking a 5 mg dose, compared with 26.7% of those taking placebo (P<0.0001), according to Roy Fleischmann, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Similar results with the agent, which blocks cytokine production, were seen in responses assessed with the Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI), Fleischmann said at a press briefing here, held in advance of his formal presentation in a late-breaking abstract session at the American College of Rheumatology meeting.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Rheumatology/Arthritis/23213Encouraging news - this sounds like the drug I almost entered the trial on, but had to back out because I was too sick to go off all my meds and potentially be on a placebo.