Japan Welcomes New Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug

This month it has been announced that arthritis wellness in Japan is set to improve thanks to the approval of a new rheumatoid arthritis drug. Made by Manufacturer Pfizer Inc, Xeljanz is a twice-a-day pill which the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare have approved for use in patients whose wellbeing has not improved after using at least one other disease-modifying drug.

When you have rheumatoid arthritis (RA), it means that your immune system mistakenly attacks your body’s tissues, mainly in your joints. This disabling autoimmune disorder limits your mobility and sometimes leaves your fingers bent at uncomfortable angles. RA generally gets worse with time, even attacking your lungs, heart, eyes, skin, blood and nerves. Early, aggressive treatment can slow the progression of the disease

Xeljanz works inside your cells, inhibiting your Janus kinase enzyme’s signalling pathways, which are involved in the inflammation caused by rheumatoid arthritis. This makes Xeljanz one of a new class of medicines called Janus kinase inhibitors, or JAK inhibitors for short, and is the first of this class to be approved for use. On the other hand, other RA drugs, such as Enbrel and Remicade, work outside your body’s cells, broadly suppressing your immune system in order to slow progression of the disorder.

These other RA drugs are expensive, must be injected or infused, and can cause significant side effects. You can experience persistent fevers, flu-like illness, susceptibility to infections and flare-ups of dormant diseases such as tuberculosis. According to Mark Swindell, head of Pfizer’s specialty care business in Japan, ‘RA is a serious and disabling disease and there is a need for new treatment options, as a significant number of patients do not adequately respond to current therapies.’

Pfizer is the world’s largest drugmaker by revenue, and the company commented that Xeljanz will initially only be made available in Japan to medical institutions participating in a programme monitoring the progress of all patients. The drug was approved as for use in the US in November, and now with Japan welcoming Xeljanz it could be a potential big seller for Pfizer. In Japan, 750,000 people are affected by rheumatoid arthritis, and Pfizer asserted that up to one-third of patients don’t respond adequately to current therapies.

Japan Welcomes New Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug

Categories: Arthritis, arthritis drug, current therapies, JAK Inhibitors, janus kinase, Japan, pfizer, ra drugs, Rheumatoid Arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), xeljanz

The Investment of Arthritic Medicine

A new drug to help the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis has entered lawmakers’ scopes as is becomes a topic of controversy regarding investment issues.

A political debate over Xeljanz, produced by Pfizer, has cost taxpayers a whopping $24,666 (£16,193) a year, which is said to grow into $2.3 billion by 2018, reflecting the company’s initial investment of $1 billion two decades ago. Pfizer joined up with a research team to produce Xeljanz. Initially, the company declined involving itself with the research team in 1994, the pricing terms of which asked for the company to “reflect the taxpayers’ investment and the health and safety needs of the public.”

Two years later, the pricing clause was removed and Pfizer worked with the team to create Xeljanz, a protein-based drug to reduce the symptoms of arthritis.

“When taxpayer-funded research helps stimulate efforts like the Xeljanz research and development program, there is a substantial return on investment,” the Pfizer statement says. “If a company chooses to initiate a high-risk $1 billion investment, as we did, that is a significant return to the American public.”

The National Institutes of Health however, has been treated with scrutiny, with its research reportedly having no “treatment-related discoveries and did not contribute in any way to the Xeljanz R&D program.” Furthermore, the report was notably vague, which means that the public’s investments into the drug is being treated with significant concern.

“American taxpayers are entitled to realize a return on their investment in N.I.H. research resulting in this — or any other — breakthrough drug. Surely price gouging isn’t what they expect or deserve,” U.S. Representative Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif told the New York Times.

With the grey area of tax-funded medication, the debate is drawn as to whether or not publicly-funded medication should cost its prescriber less. With companies attempting to make a profit and its consumers trying to improve their lives, it is interesting that the question is not “does it work?” but instead is, “how much will it cost?”

The Investment of Arthritic Medicine

Categories: Arthritis, business, company, Corporate, Finance, funded medication, investment, Osteoarthritis, Pain Relief, pfizer, Research, research team, xeljanz