FDA Approves Cancer Drug for Arthritis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a popular cancer-fighting drug for use by sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis.

Rituxan, an expensive treatment for cancer but easier on the body than chemotherapy, can now be marketed to the often debilitating arthritis, The Washington Post reports.

In rheumatoid arthritis joints are hit by the immune system and can start earlier in life than the common arthritis.

Rituxan is a genetically engineered antibody that, in some people, suppresses the immune cells causing rheumatoid arthritis.

Rituxan has raked in $1.8 billion in annual sales for California-based Genentech and Massachusetts-based Biogen Idec Inc. The cost for a year of Rituxan is $18,000 a patient.

Rituxan is being studied for its treatment of other immune diseases like lupus and multiple sclerosis.