A new study at the University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust in the United Kingdom and recently published in The Lancet, found that patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis have benefited from a drug combination of Enbrel (etanercept) and methotrexate.
The study, funded by Wyeth manufacturer of Enbrel, found that combining the two drugs improved both remission and radiographic non-progression rates within 1 year when compared to treatment with methotrexate alone. Patients taking the drug combination were also found to stay employed.
The study consisted of 500 outpatients who had no been treated with methotrexate, a chemotherapy drug. Patients were randomly assigned either methotrexate plus 50 milligrams a week of Enbrel or methotrexate alone.
The study found that while only 28% of the patients receiving methotrexate alone went into remission, half of those receiving the combination therapy went into remission and 94% reported having a good/moderate response. the study also found that almost 25% of patients who were working at the start of the trial and were in the single drug group were forced to stop working while only 10% of the combination drug patients were required to stop.
[Source: WashingtonPost]
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