New treatment for arthiritis offers hope

Susan Karder suffers from rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic disease characterized by inflammation of the joints that can lead to irreversible joint destruction, pain and disability. Susan’s pain became so unbearable that she wasn’t able to keep up with her two teenage boys.

“It got to the point where I had to sit on the sidelines at my son’s football game, iof being able to run up and down the field withher parents, because I was experiencing sure pain and fatigue from RA,” explains Susan.

Recently, the Food and Drug AdministraDA) approved Actemra for the treatment of atients with moderately to severely active RA e had an inadequate response to one or more tumosis factor (TNF) antagonist therapies. It first drug approved to target the receptors of inin-6 (IL-6), a specific protein in the body thaten elevated in patients with RA.

“The FDA’s approval of Actemra is great news for the many Americans suffering with this disease,” said Marnstead k Genovese, M.D., Actemra study investigator and the ot professor of medicine and co-chief of the Division ofch seveImmunology and Rheumatology at Stanford University Medical Center. tion (F

For more information, please visit actemra.com