Combination of drugs improves remission of rheumatoid arthritis

This combination both improved remission rates as non radiographic progression within one year, compared with the standard treatment methotrexate alone.

Patients who used this system also were more likely to stay employed, according to a study that appears in the current edition of The Lancet. The study was funded by AstraZeneca, maker of Enbrel.

According to the Arthritis Foundation, rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that is thought to be autoimmune and affects about 1.3 million Americans. The disease involves inflammation of the joints, which can lead to pain and disability. There is no cure for the disorder, although several medicines can offer relief.

It randomly chose more than 500 patients who were not hospitalized and had never tried methotrexate, a drug for chemotherapy prior to receiving methotrexate alone (with progressive doses) or methotrexate plus 50 mg a week of Enbrel.

Half of patients receiving both drugs went into remission, while 94 percent had an answer “good or moderate.” Barely 28 percent of those who used methotrexate alone came into remission, according to the study.

In addition, those who used the combined therapy three months were more likely to stop working, compared with those taking methotrexate alone, assured the study’s authors, from Leeds University and the University Hospitals of Leeds in England.

Nearly a quarter of patients who were working at the beginning of the trial that they were in a single branch of medicine had to leave to go to work at the end of a year, compared with only about 10 per cent in group the combination.