New drug eases pain of arthritis sufferers

“MY life just came back” — that’s how mother-of-three Donna Whelan remembers when she discovered she could beat rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a crippling disease that mostly affects women among 35,000 sufferers in Ireland.

Donna, 34, from Dublin, told her story at the launch of revolutionary new drug humira, which is proven to give substantial relief. Studies show nearly one in four RA patients achieved a 70% improvement using it, with remission of the disease in 25% of cases.

“A couple of days after taking the medication I was at my living room door and realised ‘I’m up out of the chair’,” said Donna. “I hadn’t thought about it. Before that, I used to think ‘how am I going to get up now, how do I move, where’s sore?’ My life just came back.”