ACZ 885 success in Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

New pivotal Phase III data showing 45% of children with active systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA) were able to substantially reduce their use of oral corticosteroids (often described as steroids) within 28 weeks of commencing treatment with ACZ885 (canakinumab) from Novartis (p<0.0001).these data are very welcome because nearly half of acz885-treated patients were able to reduce their steroid use during the study, potentially helping decrease the impact that these drugs can have on this young population," said dr nico wulffraat, one of the study investigators and pediatric immunologist at wilhelmina children's hospital, university medical center in utrecht, the netherlands. see acz885 g2305 sjia presentation (both g2305 and g2301) ruperto n, brunner h, horneff g, et al. efficacy and safety of canakinumab, a long acting fully human anti-interleukin-1 beta antibody, in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis with active systemic features: results from a phase iii study. presented on 9 november: the 2011 acr annual scientific meeting; november 5-9, 2011, chicago, us. 2011 the results of the study, which met both primary endpoints, will be presented on november 9 at the american college of rheumatology's (acr) annual scientific meeting in chicago>