The study led by Johns Hopkins researchers looked at the ability of etanercept to maintain disease remission in the serious but uncommon autoimmune disorder. Etanercept is used for rheumatoid arthritis and other types of joint inflammation.

"We had hoped that this approach to the treatment of Wegener's granulomatosis would be useful in preventing disease relapses," Dr. John H. Stone of Hopkins' Vasculitis Center wrote in this week's New England Journal of Medicine. "The study results, however, demonstrate unequivocally that etanercept was not effective for this purpose."

In Wegener's granulomatosis, the body's immune system attacks its own blood vessels, damaging vital organs by limiting blood flow. Medication can temporarily stop the disease but up to 80 percent of patients eventually suffer relapses.

Repeated use of medications such as prednisone, cyclophosphamide and methotrexate also lead to problems and each relapse has the potential to cause patients irreversible harm.

Etanercept, the first of a class of drugs called tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, also is effective for psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.