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Really great news in RA treatment! I wrote about the new drug in more detail on HealthCentral:

“Last week, the FDA approved a new drug to treat moderate to severe RA. Pfizer’s Xeljanz – brand-name tofacitinib – is the first in a new class of medications called Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors. It is also the first new RA medication in more than a decade that is taken orally, not by injection or infusion. This is good news for everyone who lives with RA. There is now one more treatment options to explore, increasing the chance of going into remission.

What is Xeljanz?

Xeljanz (pronounces Zel’Jans’) approaches treatment of RA through a different pathway than the Biologics. There are many processes involved in creating inflammation within body. The Biologics inhibit pro-inflammatory cytokines from outside the cell, blocking receptors for various immune cells, such as T and B cells, interleukin and the tumor necrosis factor. The JAK pathway is another inflammatory process. JAK inhibitors are small molecule drugs that fight inflammation from inside the cell by inhibiting the JAK pathway.”

The rest of the post is here.