PROPOSAL FOR BIOLOGIC DRUGS THERAPY IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
Authors:
Božidar Ćurković, Đurđica Babić-Naglić, Jadranka Morović-Vergles, Branimir Anić, Simeon Grazio, Dušanka Martinović Kaliterna, Marino Hanih, Srđan Novak
Summary
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, infl ammatory disease with the prevalence about 1 %. Rheumatoid arthritis is characterized with synovitis, often evolve erosions of the joints, pain and functional deficit. Etiology is unknown, but the development of such autoimmune disease is due to genetic and environmental factors. Most of the patients with diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis use nonbiologic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs. Advances in the undersstanding of the disease process have led to the development of biological agents to treat rheumatoid arthritis. With the use of biologic agents we wish to evolve the goal of therapy from that of symptomatiic relief to clinical remission. Biologic drugs have documented, fast and continuous efficacy with generaly well accepted safety profile. On behalf of Croatian Society for Rheumatology we propose recommendations for the biologic therapy in rheumatoid arthritis.