Following a study at Great Ormond Street Hospital and Alder Hey’s Children’s Hospital, a drug called RoActemra® (tocilizumab) has been specifically licensed as an effective treatment for systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA).
The study showed that the medicine improved symptoms by 90% in two-thirds of patients and could alleviate the suffering of up to 2,500 children in Britain currently living with the disease. Until now, the commonly used treatments for sJIA have been anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g. ibuprofen or corticosteroids) which may cause severe side effects and often do not slow progression of the disease.
Symptoms of sJIA include:
- ongoing joint pain,
- constant high spiking fever,
- enlargement of internal organs such as the spleen and liver
- a distinctive salmon-coloured skin rash.
- One half to two thirds of patients develop a chronic persistent polyarthritis and approximately half of these patients develop significant disability.
Professor of Paediatric Rheumatology, Professor Patricia Woo of Great Ormond Street Hospital comments: “Systemic juvenile arthritis can be a devastating disease. It strikes often very young children, causing chronic illness, pain and disability. It is hugely encouraging to have an effective medicine now available to alleviate symptoms, control disease activity and potentially hold back the worst long-term consequences of the disease.”
