CLEVELAND, April 30 -- Infliximab(Drug information on infliximab) (Remicade) showed no efficacy against two related rheumatic diseases, according to researchers here and in Italy.
In separate randomized controlled studies, investigators tested infliximab, the tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitor, for giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica.
The goal was to prevent relapse or recurrence in disease that was controlled by corticosteroids, but both groups of researchers concluded that the drug had no benefit and might even be harmful, the investigators reported in the May 1 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.
The failure of infliximab means that both diseases "remain therapeutic challenges," commented Raashid Luqmani, D.M., of Oxford University in England in an accompanying editorial. For clinicians, "the message is that steroids are still the cornerstone of treatment" for these diseases.
