A clinical trial investigated the safety and effectiveness of a new drug called upadacitinib in reducing structural joint damage in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the joints, causing pain, swelling, and stiffness. Over time, RA can lead to joint damage, which can severely impact a person's quality of life. There are many drugs currently in use for this debilitating disease. Research suggests that a drug called upadacitinib may be able to slow down the progression of joint damage in people with RA.
Upadacitinib works by inhibiting a protein called Janus kinase (JAK), which is involved in the immune response that causes RA. By blocking JAK, upadacitinib can reduce inflammation and slow down the progression of joint damage. However, strong clinical evidence demonstrating the long-term effectiveness of upadacitinib was deficient.
A clinical trial investigated the benefit of using upadacitinib for reducing joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis patients.
The trial involved 2,574 patients with rheumatoid arthritis enrolled in two ongoing clinical trials. These patients were divided into groups and received either methotrexate alone or in combination with upadacitinib or a placebo. Structural joint damage was determined at the end of 48 weeks by using modified total Sharp score, joint space narrowing, and erosion scores.
After one year, the researchers found that the group of patients who received upadacitinib had significantly less progression of joint damage than the group that received a placebo or methotrexate alone. The joint x-rays done at 1 year demonstrated that upadacitinib significantly inhibited the progression of structural joint damage in these rheumatoid arthritis patients.