Study finds 'better way' of treating rheumatoid arthritis

Biological medicine combined with conventional pharmacological treatment has been found to have increased benefits for patients recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

A clinical study conducted at the Swedish Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital discovered that patients with newly-developed arthritis respond better to a combination of pharmacological and biological medicines.

One the study's leaders, Dr Ronald van Vollenhoven, associate professor and senior physician, said: "Biological medicines have revolutionized rheumatologic therapy, but there are still some concerns, as the long-term effects are not fully known, and these medications are very expensive."

This is the first trial in which biological treatment is directly compared to the use of conventional anti-rheumatic medications.

The study involved 487 patients, who had all developed rheumatoid arthritis in the previous year.

Dr van Vollenhoven explained: "After the disease has been confirmed in a patient, we start by treating it with Methotrexate (MTX). But for the group of patients who don't respond well to MTX, it's more effective to add a biological medicine than to combine MTX with an older drug."