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Home » Health Articles » I Have Rheumatoid Arthritis And Have Heard About Cimzia What Is It

I Have Rheumatoid Arthritis And Have Heard About Cimzia... What Is It?

Biologic therapy has revolutionized our approach to the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Less than 10 years ago, the best we could hope for was to "modify disease" or slow it down and also help with symptoms. Now the goal is to not only control symptoms, it is to get RA into complete remission. Biologics are protein-based medicines that are synthesized in a laboratory. They act like laser beams to target the immune abnormalities that are felt to cause RA.

First generation biologics such as etanercept (Enbrel), infliximab (Remicade), and adalimumab (Humira) are known as TNF-inhibitors and have done wonders for many patients. Second generation biologic such as rituximab (Rituxan) which acts against B cells and abatacept (Orencia) which works on T cells are both welcome additions to the arsenal of weapons available to combat RA.

Cimzia (certolizumab) is an investigational TNF-inhibitor. It differs from the current crop of TNF-inhibitors since it is "pegylated." This means that a substance called polyethylene glycol has been attached to the molecule. This pegylation lengthens the half-life of the drug- meaning the drug stays in the system longer. Cimzia also has had a piece of protein removed from the molecule. The piece of protein that has been removed contained a small amount of mouse protein (yes... these drugs are often created using mouse proteins). By removing the piece of mouse protein, it is hoped that Cimzia will cause fewer adverse reactions.

A recent presentation on June 14, 2007 at the annual meeting of the European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR) described data on Cimzia.

The team studied 2 dose regimens, which patients received subcutaneously as add-on therapy to methotrexate.

In a phase 3, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study, the investigators recruited 992 patients with RA who received either the study drug or placebo. The investigators wanted to know the rate at which people had a 20% improvement, as defined by the American College of Rheumatology criteria (ACR 20).

The patients, who had previously been treated for at least 6 months with methotrexate, were randomized to treatment with either pegylated certolizumab or placebo. Those on treatment received 3 400-mg doses every 2 weeks, followed by 200 or 400 mg doses of certolizumab pegol every 2 weeks. The patients continued methotrexate as usual. The investigators assessed the efficacy and safety parameters at 2-week intervals.

In an early analysis at 24 weeks, the investigators found that 581 patients completed the study: 259 of the 397 on 200 mg of the drug, 278 of the 394 on 400 mg, and 44 of the 201 on placebo. The ACR20 response rate was 59.2% in the 200 mg group, 61.2% in the 400 mg group, and 13.5% of those who received methotrexate and placebo. The proportion of patients who experienced a significant side effect was 74.0% in the 200 mg group, 76.1% in the 400 mg group, and 57.7% in the placebo group. The majority of adverse events were mild to moderate.

"Pegylated certolizumab adds significant benefit in reducing the signs and symptoms of RA in combination with methotrexate, compared to using methotrexate alone," said lead investigator Edward C. Keystone, MD, professor of medicine at the University in Toronto, and director of the Rebecca MacDonald Centre for Arthritis and Autoimmune Disease, in Ontario.

Bottom line: Pegylated certolizumab works like a TNF blocker and appears to treat the signs and symptoms of RA. Whether it's better than the TNF blockers that are currently available is still no known. It is better than placebo.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Innovators: How To Turn Your Dreams Into Reality

Whether you have tried to sell your ideas in the past and failed or whether you have never tried beyond nurturing your ideas in your mind, please remember this--if you deeply believe in your ideas and if you have a vision of greatness for your ideas, one day, you will be able to turn your dreams into reality.

Remember Carl Carlson's 17-year efforts to make his copy machine (Xerox) a reality and Thomas Edison's 10,000 experiments to invent the light bulb. The powerful lesson from many great inventors and entrepreneurs in human history is--Never Give Up! Even if everybody keeps telling you to give up and to get a life beyond your dreams, you should remember that negative people and negative reinforcements are only barriers to transforming your new ideas and dreams into reality.

Many famous inventors and entrepreneurs refused to give up regardless of how many people laughed at them or how many times they failed. Many of them took a great deal of risks in their personal and professional lives to sell their ideas and inventions. In their endless efforts to sell ideas and inventions they passionately believed in, these innovators approached hundreds of companies, paid multiple brokers to show their ideas to manufacturers, explained their new ideas to scores of consultants, attended dozens of trade shows and seminars, and made hundreds of telephone calls.

But, they knew that one can never be sure of how long it will take to succeed. And so, they never gave up. They smiled when friends and relatives would ridicule them and say "how is that big idea coming along"? They were heart-broken when some companies said that their new ideas were not worth considering.

But, after the initial disappointment, they became more determined to prove that those companies were wrong, and so they worked even harder to sell their new ideas and to transform their dreams into reality. All the negative people and negative reinforcements could not destroy their spirit of endurance, perseverance and resilience. They remembered the famous quote "Most people succeeded just one step beyond their greatest failure."

They kept on trying and did not allow the rejections and negative reinforcements to kill their new ideas and their hopes and dreams. They took every obstacle as a challenge to overcome. They picked themselves up after every rejection and kept on working even harder.

They deeply believed that one day, the right opportunities will present themselves and will open the doors to their hopes and dreams. They sincerely felt that the right company, agency, investor or marketer would realize how their new ideas could be turned into successful products, services, business entities or national development programs.

In the end, their confidence, perseverance and hard work helped them turn their dreams into reality. They realized that they had been approaching all the wrong people or companies who failed to see the possibility in their new ideas. And then one day in a magical moment, the right person or company had the opportunity to see their ideas and instantly recognized the vision of greatness in their new ideas.

For many industries the best new ideas are not generated in-house, they come from outside, from innovators such as yourself. Although all companies engage in in-house product development, the smarter companies also search outside to augment their resources. Investors, marketers and idea commercialization companies also help innovators develop their new ideas for market introduction.

Many such companies and investors are now using a number of online intellectual property forums to locate suitable new ideas for purchase, licensing or joint-venture deals These include PatentcafePatentcafe.com (http://www.patentcafe.com), NewIdeaTrade.com (http://www.newideatrade.com), and Inventioncity.com (http://www.inventioncity.com).

Human civilization rests on coming up with new ideas and better ways of doing things. As stated by the bestselling author and entrepreneur Seth Godin, "this century is about ideas...we recognize that ideas are driving the economy, ideas are making people rich, and most important, ideas are changing the world."

In today's knowledge-based economy, new ideas are our greatest asset that can generate immense new value and wealth. All around the world, there are buyers and sellers, demand and supply for new ideas. Value is no longer derived by creating things, but by generating and trading new ideas.

Additional information on how to sell innovations is available at http://www.newideatrade.com/new_ideas.htm.

For more information on how to patent your invention visit http://www.newideatrade.com/patents.htm.