Study: Anakinra Found Safe for Wide Variety of Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

A large study reported in the April 15 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism finds the drug anakinra to be safe and well-tolerated by a wide variety of rhuematoid arthritis patients.

Anakinra is a genetically engineered medication that works against arthritis by inhibiting the action of a molecule called interleukin-1. The drug is manufactured by Amgen and is sold under the brand name of Kineret.

The reseachers set up their study to resemble the types of patients that would be soon in a normal clinical setting. As a result, the severity of rheumatoid arthritis in the participants varied widely. Some participants also had other conditons besides rheumatoid arthritis for which they were using other medications.

The study involved 1,399 patients who either received anakinra or a placebo.

Serious adverse events occurred at a similar rate in the anakinra group and the placebo group - 7.7 percent and 7.8 percent respectively. Serious infectious episodes were observed more frequently in the anakinra group - 2.1percent versus 0.4 percent in the placebo group. The rate of withdrawal due to adverse events was 13.4 percent in the anakinra group and 9.2 percent in the placebo group.

Although the frequency of serious infection was slightly higher in the anakinra group, no infection resulted in death.

Other sources: Arthritis & Rheumatology