First Pill Biologic Drug Approved by FDA yesterday

[mille]

Hi everyone, I hope this horrible weather isn't affecting you all too much , i always feel the damp weather increases my pain. I thought you might like to hear about an email that i received today from about.com arthritis. They are saying that the first pill biologic drug called TOFACITINIB has been approved for use. This is probably just in America at the moment but i find it exciting that they are bringing out all of the new drugs for R/A and i pray one day that we will all be able to move around with no pain and minimal side effects. It makes me grateful to know that there are wonderful people out there working at ways of curing this disease for us. I just hope it's not too long. Take care everyone. x

[Beth58]

Great news thanks for sharing, here's the link with the information. xx

arthritis.about.com/b/2012/...

[mille]

.Thanks for putting the link on Beth, i am not very good with computers. xx

[helixhelix]

And here's me just having just conquered my fear of needles, I could have waited! But yes, good news. Hopefully the treatments will just keep on getting better. Polly

[_andy_]

oh great , another i cant pronounce .. TO FAC I TIN IB no TOF ACIT INIB ,

[mille]

Lol Andy, i thought you were swearing there for a minute.

[Tinwoman2]

Actually, they changed the name to Xeljanz in the US.

'Xeljanz, or tofacitinib, is the first rheumatoid arthritis treatment from a new class of pain medications called JAK inhibitors. The drugs interfere with enzymes that contribute to tissue inflammation.'

I believe that I read yesterday on Facebook, that this one is taken twice a day and is a pill and it costs about $2,000.00 a month.

It is good news to hear that researchers are looking for answers for arthritis.

Christine

[_andy_ in reply to Tinwoman2]

if i was called tofacitinib , id get my name changed too .. not sure id pick xeljanz ,tho .

i was thinking ,, about how quickly this new drug would reach the UK , been in tablet form i thouhght it would be alot cheaper then other biologics , so thought it would be very quickly picked up , my the many members of the nhs costcutting teams n brought into service very quickly ,, then seeing the cost,," $2,000.00 a month." its going to be a long time before anyone sees this drug i feel ..

i cant help but think these drug companys ,, are not playing a fair game here .. the cost really does seem extreme , but this doesnt surprise me , when you look at other new treatments ,, i know that the research and devoplement ,is taken into the cost aswell as the manufactering of the product ..

but its only a pill ,, surely it doesnt cost that much to make ,, when paracetamol costs 40p a pkt at tesco , i know its not the same , but its a pill too ,, made in the same way , cant be that much difference ..

still its great news , new products are in devolement , i would like to think the new biologics are something big in arthritis care ,,

[mille]

That is interesting Christine. I didn't realise that it would be so expensive though. We are fortunate here in the UK that the NHS usually cover the costs if we have failed on the standard drugs. x

[_andy_ in reply to mille]

it shocked me too ,,, i thought pill form would be cheaper ,, your right too,, we are fortunate to have the nhs ,, i know we all moan about them ,, but we all know its the best medical service in the world ..

maybe the cost will come down after christmas .. other things do