For how we live.
An arthritis antibody and a diabetes drug were given to depressed patients in 2026 trials. Both were designed to probe a mechanism rather than prove a treatment, and reading them as results would be a mistake.
Lorecivivint improved pain modestly and changed nothing structural. Sprifermin grew cartilage and the effect made no difference by year five. Both illustrate the gap between a biomarker and a benefit.
Patients in remission who stayed on the JAK inhibitor through a second year flared far less than those switched to placebo — 7.4% versus 59.5% — in an extension of the SELECT-GCA trial.
In the phase 3 GCAptAIN trial the interleukin-17A blocker did not significantly beat placebo for sustained remission at one year, leaving the IL-6 inhibitor tocilizumab as the proven steroid-sparing option.