Rheumatoid Arthritis: Lexicon’s LX2931 and LX2932 drug candidates are under development as a potential treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune disorders. These compounds act by regulating lymphocyte trafficking.
About the Disease
Rheumatoid arthritis is a type of autoimmune disease, a spectrum of disorders which includes more than 80 chronic, and often disabling, illnesses that develop when underlying defects in the immune system lead the body to attack its own organs, tissues, and cells. The cells and antibodies that comprise a normal immune system destroy "invaders" such as microbes; but individuals with autoimmune diseases have antibodies in their blood that target their own body's tissues instead. Rheumatoid arthritis is a common autoimmune disease characterized by an inappropriate immune system attack on the joints. Symptoms include fever, malaise, fatigue, pain, stiffness, and eventually deformation of the joints.
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The body's own immune system attacks a joint's synovial membrane, which becomes inflamed, secretes fluid, and the cartilage becomes rough and pitted. |
About the Market
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), more than 2 million Americans suffer from rheumatoid arthritis. If left untreated, rheumatoid arthritis can result in disfigurement and disability from irreversible joint damage. Autoimmune disorders, collectively, affect between 14.7 and 23.5 million people in the United States.
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