Open AccessIs non-biological treatment of rheumatoid arthritis as good as biologics?
Author(s) -
Jyoti Ranjan Parida,
Durga Prasanna Misra,
Anupam Wakhlu,
Vikas Agarwal
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
world journal of orthopedics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 43
ISSN - 2218-5836
DOI - 10.5312/wjo.v6.i2.278
Subject(s) - medicine , rheumatoid arthritis , intensive care medicine , biological drugs , disease , antirheumatic drugs , rheumatic disease , arthritis , biologic agents , antirheumatic agents , physical therapy , immunology
The management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the past three decades has undergone a paradigm shift from symptomatic relief to a "treat-to-target" approach. This has been possible through use of various conventional and biologic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) which target disease pathogenesis at a molecular level. Cost and infection risk preclude regular use of biologics in resource-constrained settings. In the recent years, evidence has emerged that combination therapy with conventional DMARDs is not inferior to biologics in the management of RA and is a feasible cost-effective option.