Roche reports positive RA trial data for RoActemra

Roche has reported positive data from a pair of phase III trials showing the benefits RoActemra offers in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Results from the long-term extension follow-up of the Ambition study demonstrated that RoActemra, when used as a monotherapy, delivered high remission rates and improvements in disease activity that lasted up to 4.6 years.

Meanwhile, the Function trial showed that the drug can offer advantages when administered either alone or in combination with methotrexate among sufferers of early RA.

Dr Hal Barron, chief medical officer and head of global product development at Roche, said: "People who were treated with RoActemra as a single medicine over a long period of time maintained relief from RA joint swelling and pain."

RoActemra is the first humanised interleukin-6 receptor agonist approved for the treatment of adult patients with moderately to severely active RA and has been assessed in five phase III trials to date.

The drug was approved as a therapy for polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis in Europe earlier this week.