Roche's Japanese arm gets green light for new arthritis drug trial

Chugai has been given the go-ahead to start clinical trials of its new arthritis treatment in Japan

Chugai has been given the go-ahead to start clinical trials of its new arthritis treatment in Japan.
The Japanese subsidiary of Roche has confirmed that regulators in the country have given the official green light to a new version of its Actemra arthritis treatment.
At first, Chugai launched the intravenous treatment on the Asian market in order to help treat Castleman's disease.
However, on the back of ongoing research, its scientists discovered that it could be tweaked to help treat inflammation caused by rheumatoid arthritis, with Japanese health regulators having now given the new drug formulation their go-ahead.
According to Reuters, Roche has also just submitted the new drug formulation to regulators in the United States, though no timeframe for a decision being made has been confirmed.
This comes soon after the pharmaceutical company announced plans to make more of the data obtained through its frequent clinical trials available to members of the scientific research community.