Orencia + MTX shown by AVERT trial to be superior to MTX alone for higher rates of remission in RA - BMS

BMS announced its first release of new data from a Phase IIIb RA trial (AVERT study - (Assessing Very Early Rheumatoid arthritis Treatment) showing that the T-cell co-stimulation modulator, Orencia (abatacept), in combination with methotrexate (MTX) achieved significantly higher rates of DAS-defined (DAS28 CRP <2.6) remission at 12 months than treatment with standard of care agent mtx 60.9 vs. 45.2 respectively in biologic and mtx-nave patients with early active ra. the data are being presented this week at the 2014 annual meeting of the european league against rheumatism eular. in this trial a co-primary endpoint assessed maintenance of remission following the withdrawal of all ra drug therapy including orencia mtx and steroids. a small but statistically significantly higher number of patients treated with orencia plus mtx versus mtx alone for 12 months maintained remission 6 months after all ra treatment was withdrawn.>