Study promising for Amgen drug

Early results from an ongoing study showed that people with newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis were more likely to reach clinical remission with Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc.’s Enbrel plus methotrexate than with methotrexate alone.

Results from the first year of a two-year study of 542 patients showed that 50% of the patients who received Enbrel plus methotrexate were in remission. That compared with 28% of patients receiving methotrexate alone.

The study is the first major rheumatoid arthritis trial to use remission as a primary end point.