FDA OK's Bristol Myers' arthritis drug

The Food and Drug Administration has approved Bristol-Myers Squibb's rheumatoid-arthritis drug Orencia.

Orencia works by slowing the progression of structural damage in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and improves physical function in RA patients who have had inadequate responses to other drugs, the company said.

"Bristol-Myers Squibb is committed to discovering and developing innovative medications that address areas of significant unmet need," said CEO Peter Dolan. "There is clearly a need for more therapies for rheumatoid arthritis, and Orencia has the potential to help many people with this serious disease. Orencia is our first internally-discovered biologic and it further diversifies our pharmaceutical portfolio."

Orencia is the first in a new class of agents for the treatment of RA that selectively modulates a co-stimulatory signal required for full T-cell activation, the company said, and is also the first RA therapy proven safe and effective for patients for whom tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists don't work.