Going oral in RA

All the new drugs for rheumatoid arthritis in the past decade have been biologics with better efficacy than traditional DMARDs. Yet the biologics have their own drawbacks: they are injectables that generally come with a risk of side effects such as serious infections. Now Pfizer Inc. has presented data from its first Phase III trial of tasocitinib showing efficacy similar to biologics, but with the convenience of twice-daily oral administration.

How the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor's safety profile compares to the biologics will have to play out in the remaining five Phase III trials, which begin reporting out around mid-2011...