Bristol-Myers Squibb backs new preventative rheumatoid arthritis study

Bristol-Myers Squibb will be assisting a study led by England’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) that aims to evaluate a new preventative arthritis treatment approach.

The new study of the drug abatacept will be the largest ever trial investigating whether targeted immunotherapy can prevent rheumatoid arthritis in individuals considered to be at high risk of developing the disease.

Abatacept is already licensed for treating patients with established rheumatoid arthritis. Over the next two years, the APIPPRA trial will enroll more than 200 people to assess its benefits as a preemptive treatment, with 31 of the UK's leading hospitals and universities to take part.

Bristol-Myers Squibb will provide supplies of the drug, as well as a three million pound grant for the study.

Research leader Professor Andrew Cope, from the NIHR Guy's and St Thomas' Biomedical Research Centre at King's College London, said: "This is a very exciting study of a therapy that is a logical choice for the very earliest detectable phase of the disease process."

Abatacept was developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and is sold under the brand name Orencia.