• What is it?
  • Ankylosing spondylitis is an inflammatory disease that, over time, can cause some of the vertebrae in your spine to fuse. This fusing makes the spine less flexible and can result in a hunched-forward posture. This disease is more commonly found in men than women.
• Symptoms
  • Early signs and symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis might include pain and stiffness in your lower back and hips, especially in the morning and after periods of inactivity. Neck pain and fatigue also are common. Over time, symptoms might worsen, improve or stop at irregular intervals.
• How is it diagnosed?
  • The diagnosis of AS may include use of images i.e. x-rays or MRI, labs test including HLA-B27 gene results.
• How is it treated?
• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as naproxen (Naprosyn) and indomethacin (Indocin); biologic medication, such as a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blocker such as Adalimumab (Humira), Certolizumab pegol (Cimzia), Etanercept (Enbrel), Golimumab (Simponi; Simponi Aria),Infliximab (Remicade); or an interleukin 17 (IL-17) inhibitor such as Secukinumab (Cosentyx)
• Physical therapy and surgery are also treatment options

**Closed to enrollment**
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter study of secukinumab to evaluate the safety, tolerabilityand efficacy up to 2 years in patients with active non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis