The treatment is a twice a day pill and the competition right now from Abbott is an injectable drug, Humira. Just because it is a pill formula though, don’t expect any big price breaks as the cost would run around 25k a year, some expensive pills and priced pretty close to what the injectable drug would cost. The drug has some “real” side effect though to consider with risks for infections and even cancer and other complications. BD
U.S. regulators on Tuesday approved Pfizer Inc's Xeljanz treatment
for rheumatoid arthritis, one of the company's most potentially lucrative experimental drugs, which is now poised to compete with Abbott Laboratories Inc's top-selling Humira.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it had approved Pfizer's pill for patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis who have not benefited from or been able to tolerate the standard oral treatment, methotrexate. Xeljanz can be used by itself or in combination with methotrexate and certain other standard treatments
.
Pfizer's drug works by blocking molecules called Janus kinases which are linked to joint inflammation. The drug was associated with an increased risk of serious infections, tuberculosis, cancers and lymphoma. Humira, Embrel and Remicade also make patients more prone to serious infections and other complications.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/11/07/fda-approves-new-arthritis-drug/#ixzz2BbrbZJ7q
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