Immunex drug appears to slow arthritis, study says

Herald staff

SEATTLE — A drug made by Seattle-based Immunex that is used to relieve the symptoms of advanced rheumatoid arthritis also appears to slow or stop the progression of the disease when given in its early stages, a study published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine concludes.

The latest work shows that the drug, Enbrel, works better than the standard treatment, methotrexate, in these patients and carries fewer side effects. Enbrel works by blocking a natural substance called tumor necrosis factor, which triggers much of the joint inflammation in the disease.

Wednesday’s prices: Gold sold for $269.10 a troy ounce, silver for $4.66 and platinum for $600.60.

Growth rate slows: The U.S. economy slowed dramatically during the summer to a growth rate of just 2.4 percent, the weakest pace in four years, as the Federal Reserve’s inflation-fighting campaign began to pinch. The Commerce Department released revised figures showing that the gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services — grew at a slower pace during the July-September quarter than previously believed.

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Net deal off: Verizon Communications called off its planned merger with high-speed Internet access provider NorthPoint Communications Group Inc. on Wednesday, citing a deterioration in NorthPoint’s business performance and finances. The deal would have given Verizon a greater reach for offering its fast digital subscriber line, or DSL, Internet service.

Nasdaq system goes out: The Nasdaq Stock Market said Wednesday its automated quote system had a failure at around 12:40 p.m. PST that prevented market makers from updating and viewing stock prices. The cause of the outage was not immediately known and was being investigated, Nasdaq said in a news release.