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Advances in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

F1000Prime Rep. 2014 May 6;6:31. doi: 10.12703/P6-31. eCollection 2014

Vivar N, Van Vollenhoven RF.

Abstract: The intense pursuit of novel therapies in rheumatoid arthritis has provided physicians with an assorted set of biologic drugs to treat patients with moderate to severe disease activity. Nine different biologic therapies are currently available: seven inhibitors of pro-inflammatory cytokines (five targeting tumor necrosis factor [TNF], one interleukin [IL]-1 and one IL-6), as well as a T- and a B-lymphocyte targeting agent. All these drugs have roughly similar efficacy profiles and are approved as first- or second-line therapy in patients who failed to respond to conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and in most cases for first line use in rheumatoid arthritis as well. Despite the irrefutable clinical and radiological benefits of biologic therapies, there are still low rates of patients achieving stable remission. Therefore, the quest for new and more effective biologic therapies continues and every year new drugs are tested. Simultaneously, optimal use of established agents is being studied in different ways. Recently, the approval of the first small molecule targeting intracellular pathways has opened a new chapter in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Other emerging treatment strategies include the activation of regulatory T cells as well as new cytokine-targeting therapies.

 

 

Efficacy and safety of methotrexate in combination with other non-biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Bull Hosp Jt Dis (2013). 2013;71 Suppl 1:S20-8

Castrejón I, Gibson KA, Pincus T.

Abstract: Methotrexate (MTX) is well-established as the "anchor drug" for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), to be used early and aggressively, with higher long-term effectiveness, tolerability, and safety than any other disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD). However, about 20% to 40% of patients experience incomplete responses to MTX and require further therapy, with options including other non- biologic DMARDs, low dose glucocorticoids, and biologic agents. Non-biologic DMARDs in combination with MTX may provide similar efficacy to a biologic agent in clinical trials, with fewer adverse events and lower costs. This re- view presents a summary of 21 clinical trials documenting the efficacy and safety of MTX in combination with other non-biologic DMARDs.

 

Efficacy of conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, glucocorticoids and tofacitinib: a systematic literature review informing the 2013 update of the EULAR recommendations for management of rheumatoid arthritis.

Ann Rheum Dis. 2014 Mar;73(3):510-5. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2013-204588. Epub 2014 Jan6. 

Gaujoux-Viala C1, Nam J, Ramiro S, Landewé R, Buch MH, Smolen JS, Gossec L.

 

 

Development of Novel Combination Therapies: Perspective march 17, 2011

The NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL of MEDICINE 2011; 364 (11), 985-987

Janet Woodcock, M.D., Joseph P. Griffin, J.D., and Rachel E. Behrman, M.D., M.P.H.

 

 

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