Benefits of Abatacept Sustained for up to 18 Months in Difficult-to-Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis

Amsterdam (ots/PRNewswire) - New data presented at the 2006
European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Annual Congress from the
one-year open label extension of the 6-month ATTAIN trial (Abatacept
Trial in Treatment of Anti-TNF INadequate responders)[1] in which all
patients were treated with abatacept, a selective co-stimulation
modulator, show that the benefits of abatacept in patients with
active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are sustained for up to 18 months in
inadequate responders to anti-TNF therapy.

Improvements in quality of life scores (the physical and mental
components of Short Form-36) and improvements in physical function
(measured by the Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index)
originally achieved at 6 months in the ATTAIN trial, were sustained
for a further 12 months of treatment, according to the results of the
one-year extension study.

In 317 patients with RA who were taking conventional DMARDs, but
who had an inadequate response to anti-TNF therapy, a further year of
treatment with abatacept maintained both the reduction in disease
activity seen at six months in the original ATTAIN trial, as well as
the improvements in quality of life and physical function.

ATTAIN, a 6-month randomised double-blind trial, showed that
compared to placebo abatacept significantly reduced disease activity
scores and improved patient-reported outcomes in 391 patients with
active RA, treated with conventional DMARDs, who had an inadequate
response to anti-TNF therapy. All patients who completed the ATTAIN
trial were eligible to enter the one-year extension study and receive
open-label treatment with abatacept (

OTS-ORIGINALTEXT PRESSEAUSSENDUNG UNTER AUSSCHLIESSLICHER INHALTLICHER VERANTWORTUNG DES AUSSENDERS - WWW.OTS.AT | PRN

print