title: Biologic therapy in rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: Biologic therapies have notably improved the treatment of RA, making disease remission a realistic goal. After more than ten years of experience, the safety issues associated with these drugs are well characterized and can be avoided with careful patient selection and tight clinical control. Although the different biologic drugs (anti-TNF agents, anti-IL-6, anti-B cells and anti-costimulation of T-cells) have apparently different mechanisms of action, all biologic agents have demonstrated similar efficacy. In addition results of the combination of two biologic therapies have shown no additive clinical effects, although there is an increased risk of infection. Therefore, further research is needed to optimize the use of these and future targeted therapies in RA.
authors.affiliation: Arthritis Unit, Rheumatology Dpt, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona and IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain. jcanete@clinic.ub.es
authors.forename: Juan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Cañete
authors.forename: José L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Pablos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001688:Biological Products / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D001688:Biological Products