Roche to present results of MabThera study

NEW YORK Roche will present results of a study of its arthritis medication MabThera at a four-day meeting of the European League Against Rheumatism in Paris that begins Wednesday.

The company, based in Basel, Switzerland, found that MabThera reduced disease activity better than a TNF inhibitor. Roche is marketing MabThera to patients who have used TNF inhibitors but whose conditions haven’t improved. The drug is also approved for treating non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

MabThera, also known as Rituxan, had sales of $5.3 billion in 2007, according to Roche financial data.