Lilly and Incyte report positive data from rheumatoid arthritis drug trial

Lilly and Incyte have announced new data from a phase III clinical trial of their investigational rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib.

Positive top-line results have been reported from RA-Beacon, the first of several phase III trials of the drug to deliver data. It involved 527 patients who had previously failed at least one anti-TNF therapy, including a high percentage who had also received prior treatment with one or several non-anti-TNF biologic agents.

It was shown that baricitinib met its primary endpoint of improved response rates compared to placebo after 12 weeks of treatment, while its safety performance was also encouraging.

The safety and efficacy of baricitinib are being evaluated in an extensive phase III programme with a total enrolment of more than 3,000 people with rheumatoid arthritis.

David Ricks, Lilly senior vice-president and president at Lilly Bio-Medicines, said: "These results give us further confidence in the potential for baricitinib to be a meaningful treatment option for those suffering from this debilitating condition."

This comes after positive data for Lilly's osteoarthritis drug tanezumab, developed in partnership with Pfizer, was published in the Journal of Rheumatology earlier this year.