Russian scientists started trials for new ankylosing spondylitis drug

According to Alexey Sitalo, president of the Society for Mutual Assistance in Ankylosing Spondylitis, scientists of the N.I. Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University (RNRMU) began trials of the world’s first drug without any side effects for the treatment of an incurable joint disease (Bekhterev’s disease), which affects up to half a million people in the Russian Federation.

Alexey Sitalo, president of the Society for Mutual Assistance in Ankylosing Spondylitis, said:

“Last week, monkey study started. In case all studies yield successful results then in five or six years the drug will be released to the market.”

At the forum of patients with Bekhterev’s disease in Moscow on October 27, RNRMU Rector Sergei Lukyanov said that scientists managed to identify the structures inside the body that allow therapeutic targeting of the inflammatory process.

Existing medicines belong to a different type of drugs, and, in addition, they cause damage to the immune system, resulting in increased susceptibility to disease.