Immunex Enbrel panel on Tuesday

The FDA's Arthritis Drugs Advisory Committee will consider on Tuesday IMNX's application to expand the indications for the company's Enbrel TNF inhibitor to include patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have not failed treatment with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

The FDA approved Enbrel in November 1998 to treat moderately to severely active RA in patients who have an inadequate response to one or more DMARDs. The FDA included pediatric patients aged 4-17 years in the Enbrel label in May 1999 when it granted the drug a new indication for the treatment of moderately to severely active polyarticular-course juvenile RA in patients who have had an inadequate response to one or more DMARDs. ...