DMARDs

You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give - Eleanor Roosevelt

DMARDs

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The Good News – Bad News About Triple Therapy

For whatever reason, I’ve lately been reading a lot about the effectiveness of triple therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. The triple-therapy study was first presented at the European League Against Rheumatism Congress 2013 and published online June 2013 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with the presentation.

Triple therapy, which consists of three well-established DMARDs: sulfasalazine (a sulfa drug), hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), and methotrexate, was shown to have comparable benefits to a combination biologic/methotrexate therapy. These benefits included disease measures, function, and radiographic progression. All this boils down to saying the triple-DMARD therapy…

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Resources

DMARDs & Immunosuppressives

Updates from the Rheumatologist.

Competition Heats Up in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Other Autoimmune Conditions

With the wide variety of treatment options currently available and more in the pipeline, payers are faced with the challenge of identifying the most clinically and economically effective allocation of treatments for RA.

Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs)

Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) act by altering the underlying disease rather than treating symptoms. They're not painkillers, but they'll reduce pain, swelling and stiffness over a period of weeks or months by slowing down the disease and its effects on the joints. There are two types: conventional DMARDs and biological therapies.

DMARDs Under Study for Secondary Prevention of Cardiovascular Events

Several important lines of population and large cohort research have shown that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have a substantially higher risk for myocardial infarction and major cardiovascular events...Several studies have documented the protective and normalizing effects of chronic methotrexate and TNF inhibition in lowering these morbid and mortal outcomes.

RA Medications: Are NSAIDs or DMARDs Better for Pain?

NSAIDs are recommended and prescribed to rheumatoid arthritis patients early on and throughout the disease course. Early use of NSAIDs helps alleviate symptoms of pain and stiffness by reducing inflammation in patients. Often times, DMARDs take weeks or months to begin working and so patients choose NSAIDs in the meantime to alleviate pain and continue with their daily activities.

The Facts About JAK Inhibitors for Rheumatoid Arthritis

This new arthritis medication might ease your joint pain — but it can also come with some risks.

The Good News – Bad News About Triple Therapy

The bottom line is that it’s great that there is apparently an effective therapy using well-known, older drugs. I’m all for treatments that work regardless of the form they take including drug therapy, natural supplements, diet, exercise, or a combination thereof. If it slows down or stops RA (without also killing or maiming the patient), I’m all for it. What I don’t want is the economic or other factors somehow interfering with the doctor-patient relationship that should be primary in prescribing a treatment plan.