RALEIGH, N.C. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Rheumatoid arthritis is a progressive autoimmune disease that if untreated, can attack the joints and internal organs. There are medications that can help block the inflammation, but finding the right therapy is often trial and error. Now, a new diagnostic test can take the guess work out of prescribing medication, PrismRA.
After three decades together, Regina Dickens lost her husband Wayne last year. She says, in big and small ways, they balanced each other.
“My husband was the gripper in the family. He could get the jar lids off,” Dickens says about her late husband.
Dickens has rheumatoid arthritis. Her immune system is attacking her joints, especially in her hands and fingers.
“This was the most searing pain I think I had ever had,” she expresses.
Rheumatologist at Triangle and Rheumatology Associates, Dr. A. Silvia Ross, MD, says, “Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is aiming at trying to get that immune system to behave again.”
Several first line medications, called TNF inhibitor therapies, are designed to block the inflammation. But they’re not fail-proof.
“The holy grail of rheumatology is figuring out which drug is going to work for whom,” Dr. Ross explains.
Especially since the drugs often take months to work. Now, a new, one-time blood test can give clinicians a better window into the condition. The PrismRA test uses proteins in a person’s blood to help determine the cause of the rheumatoid arthritis, and whether TNF inhibitors will work.
Dr. Ross further explains, “If the blood test says that you are not likely to respond to a TNF inhibitor, I just saved you 16 weeks of treatment that doesn’t work.”
Dickens’ PrismRA test suggested TNF inhibitors were not a good option, so she’s on a different medication – an infusion.
Dr. Ross says the patients are tested with a one-time blood draw. The PrismRA test is covered by some insurance companies. Dr. Ross also says rheumatologists are hoping that Medicare will adopt the test.
Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Producer; Kirk Manson, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
To receive a free weekly e-mail on medical breakthroughs from Ivanhoe, sign up at: http://www.ivanhoe.com/ftk
Source:
https://www.healthline.com/health/rheumatoid-arthritis/facts-statistics-infographic
MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
RESEARCH SUMMARY
TOPIC: PrismRA TAKES THE GUESSWORK OUT OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS TREATMENT
REPORT: MB #5100
BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis, or RA, is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease, which means that your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake, causing inflammation (painful swelling) in the affected parts of the body. RA mainly attacks the joints, usually many joints at once. Out of every 100,000 people, 71 are diagnosed with RA every year. About 1.5 million Americans have RA. Women are about two to three times more likely to get RA than men. Hormones in both genders may play a role in either preventing or triggering it. RA generally starts between the ages of 30 and 60 in women and somewhat later in life in men. The lifetime risk of developing RA for U.S. adults is 3.6 percent for women and 1.7 percent for men. However, RA can present at any age — even small children can develop it.
https://www.healthline.com/health/rheumatoid-arthritis/facts-statistics-infographic#Prevalence)
DIAGNOSING: Signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis may include tender, warm, swollen joints, joint stiffness that is usually worse in the mornings and after inactivity, and fatigue, fever, and loss of appetite. About 40% of people who have rheumatoid arthritis also experience signs and symptoms that don’t involve the joints. Areas that may be affected include skin, eyes, lungs, heart, and kidneys. Rheumatoid arthritis signs and symptoms may vary in severity and may even come and go. Periods of increased disease activity, called flares, alternate with periods of relative remission — when the swelling and pain fade or disappear. Over time, rheumatoid arthritis can cause joints to deform and shift out of place.
(Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis/symptoms-causes/syc-20353648)
NEW TECHNOLOGY: People with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) could soon benefit from a new drug treatment that not only suppresses inflammation but also significantly reduces patient-reported pain scores. Otilimab is a monoclonal antibody, biologic drug, which targets and suppresses the inflammatory cytokine GM-CSF. In a multicentre, dose-ranging trial, led by Professor Chris Buckley at the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham, and sponsored by the pharmaceutical company GSK, researchers explored the clinical effects of otilimab to prevent inflammation, tissue damage and pain in people with RA. The trial was novel in that it offered an escape arm for patients receiving the placebo or in whom the drug dose to which they were randomized did not achieve a reduction in their disease activity. “One of the problems with placebo arms is it’s hard to get people to go into the study if they know they might get a dummy drug,” said Prof. Buckley. “In this trial, if a patient wasn’t seeing improvements after 12 weeks, they were automatically transferred to the highest dose of otilimab at 180 mg and we were able to then see the improvements.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT, PLEASE CONTACT:
Molly Johnson
(216) 410-5218
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at mthomas@ivanhoe.com
