Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In some types of arthritis, other organs are also affected. Onset can be gradual or sudden.
Infliximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody, sold under the brand name Remicade among others, is a medication used to treat a number of autoimmune diseases. This includes Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Behçet's disease. It is given by slow injection into a vein, typically at six- to eight-week intervals.
Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a long-term inflammatory arthritis that occurs in people affected by the autoimmune disease psoriasis. The classic feature of psoriatic arthritis is swelling of entire fingers and toes with a sausage-like appearance. This often happens in association with changes to the nails such as small depressions in the nail (pitting), thickening of the nails, and detachment of the nail from the nailbed. Skin changes consistent with psoriasis frequently occur before the onset of psoriatic arthritis but psoriatic arthritis can precede the rash in 15% of affected individuals. It is classified as a type of seronegative spondyloarthropathy.
Etanercept, sold under the brand name Enbrel among others, is a biologic medical product that is used to treat autoimmune diseases by interfering with tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a soluble inflammatory cytokine, by acting as a TNF inhibitor. It has US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to treat rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis and psoriatic arthritis, plaque psoriasis and ankylosing spondylitis. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) is the "master regulator" of the inflammatory (immune) response in many organ systems. Autoimmune diseases are caused by an overactive immune response. Etanercept has the potential to treat these diseases by inhibiting TNF-alpha.
Sulfasalazine, sold under the brand name Azulfidine among others, is a medication used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease. It is considered by some to be a first-line treatment in rheumatoid arthritis. It is taken by mouth or can be administered rectally.
Adalimumab, sold under the brand name Humira, among others, is a monoclonal antibody used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, plaque psoriasis, hidradenitis suppurativa, uveitis, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis. It is administered by subcutaneous injection.
Hubert Jacob Paul Schoemaker was a Dutch biotechnologist. He was a co-founder and the president of one of America's first biotechnology companies, Centocor, which was founded in 1979 for the commercialising of monoclonal antibodies. In 1999 he founded Neuronyx, Inc., for the manufacture of stem cells and the development of stem-cell therapies.
A TNF inhibitor is a pharmaceutical drug that suppresses the physiologic response to tumor necrosis factor (TNF), which is part of the inflammatory response. TNF is involved in autoimmune and immune-mediated disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, hidradenitis suppurativa and refractory asthma, so TNF inhibitors may be used in their treatment. The important side effects of TNF inhibitors include lymphomas, infections, congestive heart failure, demyelinating disease, a lupus-like syndrome, induction of auto-antibodies, injection site reactions, and systemic side effects.
Jan T. Vilček is a Slovak-American biomedical scientist, educator, inventor and philanthropist. He is a professor in the department of microbiology at the New York University School of Medicine, and chairman and CEO of The Vilcek Foundation. Vilček received his M.D. degree from Comenius University Medical School in Bratislava in 1957; and his Ph.D. in Virology from the Institute of Virology, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, in 1962.
Biological response modifiers (BRMs) are substances that modify immune responses. They can be both endogenous and exogenous, and they can either enhance an immune response or suppress it. Some of these substances arouse the body's response to an infection, and others can keep the response from becoming excessive. Thus they serve as immunomodulators in immunotherapy, which can be helpful in treating cancer and in treating autoimmune diseases, such as some kinds of arthritis and dermatitis. Most BRMs are biopharmaceuticals (biologics), including monoclonal antibodies, interleukin 2, interferons, and various types of colony-stimulating factors. "Immunotherapy makes use of BRMs to enhance the activity of the immune system to increase the body's natural defense mechanisms against cancer", whereas BRMs for rheumatoid arthritis aim to reduce inflammation.
Ustekinumab, sold under the brand name Stelara, is a monoclonal antibody medication developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, for the treatment of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, targeting both IL-12 and IL-23.
Toralizumab was a humanized monoclonal antibody and an immunosuppressive drug. Possible indications included treatment of antibody-mediated disorders, T-cell-mediated diseases, and B-cell malignancies such as CLL/small lymphocytic lymphoma, follicular cell lymphoma grade I or II, marginal zone lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, MALT lymphoma, Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, monocytoid B-cell lymphoma; relapsed/refractory Hodgkin's disease).
Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO) is a rare condition (1:1,000,000), in which the bones have lesions, inflammation, and pain. It is called multifocal because it can appear in different parts of the body, primarily bones, and osteomyelitis because it is very similar to that disease, although CRMO appears to be without any infection.
An autoimmune disease is a condition that results from an anomalous response of the adaptive immune system, wherein it mistakenly targets and attacks healthy, functioning parts of the body as if they were foreign organisms. It is estimated that there are more than 80 recognized autoimmune diseases, with recent scientific evidence suggesting the existence of potentially more than 100 distinct conditions. Nearly any body part can be involved.
Sir Marc Feldmann,, is an Australian-educated British immunologist. He is a professor at the University of Oxford and a senior research fellow at Somerville College, Oxford.
Briakinumab (ABT-874) is a human monoclonal antibody being developed by Abbott Laboratories for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and multiple sclerosis. As of 2011 drug development for psoriasis has been discontinued in the U.S. and Europe.
Tofacitinib, sold under the brand Xeljanz among others, is a medication used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, polyarticular course juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and ulcerative colitis. It is a janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor, discovered and developed by the National Institutes of Health and Pfizer.
Celltrion, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Incheon, South Korea. Celltrion Healthcare conducts worldwide marketing, sales, and distribution of biological medicines developed by Celltrion. Celltrion's founder, Seo Jung-jin, is the richest person in South Korea.
Janus kinase 3 inhibitors, also called JAK3 inhibitors, are a new class of immunomodulatory agents that inhibit Janus kinase 3. They are used for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. The Janus kinases are a family of four nonreceptor tyrosine-protein kinases, JAK1, JAK2, JAK3, and TYK2. They signal via the JAK/STAT pathway, which is important in regulating the immune system. Expression of JAK3 is largely restricted to lymphocytes, while the others are ubiquitously expressed, so selective targeting of JAK3 over the other JAK isozymes is attractive as a possible treatment of autoimmune diseases.
