Hopes fade for AstraZeneca and Rigel’s arthritis pill

LONDON (Reuters) – An experimental rheumatoid arthritis drug from AstraZeneca proved inferior to Abbott Laboratories’ Humira in a clinical study, knocking hopes for one of the few late-stage products in the company’s pipeline. The mid-sized study of fostamatinib – given as a pill rather than injected, as is the case with Humira – showed it was not as good as Abbott’s market-leading drug in controlling arthritis symptoms, AstraZeneca said on Thursday. …