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.