New Arthritis Drug Risk

Potential arthritis drug reduced pain more than expected, leading to overuse of joints.
Bloomberg News (9/30, Cortez) reports, "An experimental arthritis drug from Pfizer Inc.," called tanezumab, "reduced pain more than researchers anticipated, doctors said," and "allowed previously hobbled patients to overuse and permanently damage their joints." Pfizer halted the trials of the drug in June and July at the request of the FDA, but the company is now discussing the drug's development program with the agency, according to a company spokesman. "Studies of the drug in patients with cancer pain and chronic pancreatitis are under way."
MedPage Today (9/29, Walsh) also noted, "Patients who received various doses of tanezumab had significant reductions ranging from 31 to 45.2 points in knee pain while walking, as assessed on a 100-point visual analogue scale, compared with a change of 15.5 points for patients receiving placebo, according to Nancy E. Lane, MD, of the University of California Davis in Sacramento, and colleagues."