Jab to end need for surgery
A JAB licensed today ends the need for surgery for Dupuytren’s disease – the claw-finger condition whose sufferers include former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and actor Bill Nighy.
Dupuytren’s affects about four per cent of the population and is caused by a build up of collagen in the palm, which can form a rope-like cord in one or more fingers and make them bend inwards.
Every year 12,000 people have surgery to cut the cord and release their fingers.
The Xiapex injection by Pfizer, contains enzymes, which break down the collagen so the cord can be snapped manually under local anaesthetic 24 hours later.
In a trial of the jab, contracture towards the palm was reduced to five degrees or less in 64 per cent of patients.
