Bristol-Myers Squibb drug Orencia supported by data

Bristol-Myers Squibb has revealed data relating to the subcutaneous administration of its rheumatoid arthritis (RA) drug Orencia (abatacept).

The four-month open-label trial, which encompassed 100 patients, showed that weekly administration of a 125 mg subcutaneous dose of Orencia resulted in minimal, transient immunogenicity prior to month four after repeat dosing.

Immunogenicity was similar whether Orencia was administered in combination with standard RA therapy methotrexate, or alone.

After the four-month period, those treated displayed no antibody response to subcutaneous Orencia.

Peter Nash, associate professor for the department of medicine at University of Queensland, stated: “These new data assessing subcutaneous Orencia confirm no new safety signal, demonstrate efficacy both in combination with methotrexate and as monotherapy and show no immunogenicity with the subcutaneous formulation at four months.”

Further Orencia trial results were unveiled this week and showed that the Bristol-Myers Squibb drug in combination with methotrexate achieved sustained low disease activity scores at 24 months.