Posted on 11/02/2023 9:46:53 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
According to a paper, JAK inhibitors, which doctors have used to treat patients with arthritis despite concerns about the effectiveness of such drugs, actually do work quite well. In a multicenter, retrospective study Japanese researchers found that the drugs resulted in impressive remission rates in patients, most of whom choose to continue such treatment.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a common autoimmune disease. The use of biological disease-modifying drugs enables patients to enjoy the achievement of low disease activity and remission. But clinics must administer such drugs through subcutaneous or intravenous routes, which is unpleasant for patients.
Recently scientists have developed Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors for arthritis treatment. Patients take such drugs orally. Previous research has demonstrated the efficacy and safety of JAK inhibitors in randomized controlled trials.
However, some researchers have questioned the potential efficacy of JAK inhibitors for widespread patient use. In practice, doctors mostly treat patients with JAK inhibitors precisely because those patients have other health problems and so conventional drugs like methotrexate are less effective on them.
In the present multicenter, retrospective study, researchers using data from 622 patients treated at seven major university hospitals in Japan compared the efficacy and safety of four common JAK inhibitors: tofacitinib, baricitinib, peficitinib, and upadacitinib.
The researchers here found that approximately one in three patients reached remission, three in four reached at least low disease activity, with both numbers representing impressive efficacy. They noted that more than 80% of the patients were still on the JAK inhibitor drugs after six months.
They believe that this is particularly relevant given that immunological secondary treatment failure, where drugs cease to be effective because they produce adverse immune system responses in patients, cannot occur with these oral medications. Immunological secondary treatment failure is common in patients who treat their arthritis with drugs like methotrexate.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
You also don’t need injections.
Bookmark
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So how to I get some?
I predict that these JAK inhibitors will also be found to improve type 2 diabetes. It has the same cause as arthritis. It’s time to start the trials.
You need your doctor to approve this.
It is for more severe rheumatoid arthritis.
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I may qualify.
I'll file this away for later.
It may come in handy in the near future - unfortuneately.
Frigid winter weather and rheumatoid arthritis do not mix well.
And last night was the first sub-freezing night of this upcoming winter here.
And the winter is not just 'upcoming' - if it is below freezing, it is HERE, now.
Drat it all.
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