There has been one publication
on sirukumab at the ACR 2015 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Sirukumab is a
human MAB that binds to IL-6, designed for the treatment of rheumatoid
arthritis. So sirukumab will compete with tocilizumab. I’ve seen the
first studies at the EULAR 2012 Meeting in Berlin. So now we have one study. You
know, how suspicious I am, and this makes me even more suspicious.
Tsutomu Takeuchi and colleagues
presented: “One-Year Safety of Sirukumab Monotherapy: Results from a
Randomized, Double-Blind, Parallel-Group, Multicenter Study in Japanese
Subjects with Moderate to Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis”. It’s a phase 2 study. Conclusions:
“Sirukumab 50mg q4 and 100mg q2 monotherapy dose regimens for 52 weeks were
well tolerated in Japanese RA patients. […] The proportions of ACR 20/50/70
responses at Week 24 in the 100mg q2 group were numerically higher than those
in the 50mg q4 group; however, the number of subjects was too limited to make
conclusions about dose response.”
Why is the sponsor not
pushing to get to the market? If he wants to take part of the IL-6 piece of the
cake, he should hurry as the cake is cut into more and more pieces. I see a
lack of commitment. And actually I don’t see a medical reason to have another
IL-6 inhibitor.
References:
Takeuchi T, Yamanaka H,
Harigai M, Tamamura R, Kato Y, Ukyo Y, Nakano T, Ota T, Hsu B, Tanaka Y.
One-Year Safety of Sirukumab Monotherapy: Results from a Randomized,
Double-Blind, Parallel-Group, Multicenter Study in Japanese Subjects with
Moderate to Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015; 67 (suppl 10). http://acrabstracts.org/abstract/one-year-safety-of-sirukumab-monotherapy-results-from-a-randomized-double-blind-parallel-group-multicenter-study-in-japanese-subjects-with-moderate-to-severe-rheumatoid-arthritis/.
Accessed November 19, 2015.
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