Orthopedics This Week | February 16, 2016 | Page 26

ORTHOPEDICS THIS WEEK
VOLUME 12, ISSUE 6 | FEBRUARY 16, 2016

“When this happens it is traumatic for
the patient, who may need further complicated surgery. It is also expensive for
the NHS”
The scientists believe that if the LPA
coating reduces the need for repeat surgery in the future the savings per annum
to the NHS could be in the millions.
As around 10% of joint replacements
fail due to loosening of the bonding of
implant to bones the team believes that
this research will mark a breakthrough
in orthopedics, saving patients who
require implants the significant trauma
of repeat surgery if their implants fail
to bond as well as big savings to NHS
orthopedic budgets.
Mansell explained how LPA works.
“Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a naturally occurring fatty molecule that acts
alongside vitamin D to promote bone
forming cell function. This is a very
exciting discovery as few agents are
known to enhance the actions of vitamin D on bone forming cells. Vitamin
D is vital for bone health because it
enhances bone forming cell function.
Therefore agents that can co-operate
with vitamin D could find place as a
coating on titanium to encourage better bonding to the patient’s bone.”
“We have found a way of joining LPA
onto titanium using a simple process at
room temperature. Simple procedures
to titanium modifications are appealing to the companies that manufacture
bone implants to keep costs to a minimum. We have found that our LPAmodified titanium works with vitamin
D to support bone cell function”.
The team has recently discovered that
the coating also deters the attachment of
bacteria and is resilient to the washing
and sterilization, procedures required
in surgery. — BY

AS and PsA patients, their caregivers,
and their doctors.”

EXTREMITIES

Cosentyx Approved
for AS and PsA

N

ovartis AG has announced that
the FDA has approved Cosentyx
(secukinumab) for two new indications: the treatment of adults with active
ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and active
psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The approvals
come as the result two AS and two PsA
placebo-controlled Phase III studies
involving more than 1,500 patients.
According to the January 15, 2016
news release, these new approvals
makes Cosentyx the first and only
interleukin-17A (IL-17A) antagonist
approved for AS, as well as moderate to
severe plaque psoriasis and PsA, which
impacts as many as 30% of patients
with psoriasis. Cosentyx was approved
for adult patients with moderate to
severe plaque psoriasis in January
2015 and more than 13,000 patients
with this disease in the
U.S. have already been
treated with Cosentyx.
“We were inspired by
patients to pursue new
indications for AS and
PsA, because these diseases can result in significant pain and impede
the simplest of tasks in a
person’s daily life,” said
Christi Shaw, U.S. Country Head, president at
Novartis
Corporation
and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.
“The approval of additional indications for
Cosentyx represents an
important milestone for

26

“Working directly with patients who
have AS and PsA, I have seen firsthand
the devastating impact the diseases can
have,” said Philip Mease, M.D., director of rheumatology research at Swedish Medical Center, clinical professor at
the University of Washington School of
Medicine in Seattle and an investigator
in the Cosentyx clinical trial program.
“I welcome the addition of Cosentyx as
a new treatment option for my patients
with AS and PsA.”
Cathryn M. Clary, M.D., head of U.S.
Clinical Development & Medical Affairs
for Novartis, told OTW, “The approval
of Cosentyx provides physicians and
appropriate adult patients with the first
treatment for active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and active psoriatic arthritis
(PsA) targeting the IL-17A pathway.
Our studies show that many patients
treated with Cosentyx have a significant
reduction in their signs and symptoms,
while offering a consistent safety profile

Psoriatic arthritis/Wikimedia Commons and James Heilman, M.D.

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