New therapeutics in rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic disorder characterized predominately by a chronic inflammatory polyarthritis, with frequent progression to joint destruction and disability. Radiographic joint damage develops in as many as 75% of patients within the first 2 years of disease. For this reason, current RA treatment approaches have focused on early intensive therapy with multiple disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. The approval of new drugs for this indication has expanded the number of therapeutic options that can potentially allow for tight control of the inflammatory process.