Etanercept also shows fewer side effects than the current best medicine.
While the drug has been on the market for several years as a symptom-easing therapy for people with advanced rheumatoid arthritis, this study marks a new use for etanercept as an early treatment. The study compared etanercept with the standard therapy, a drug called methotrexate. The research, funded by the makers of etanercept and reported this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, forms the basis for new Food and Drug Administration guidelines governing use of the drug for early treatment. Physicians may now prescribe it, not only for symptom relief, but to prevent joint damage in the first place. Rheumatoid arthritis is marked by an immune system attack on joints both on bone and on the cartilage that surrounds the bone bringing permanent joint damage.