94. Research Progress on the Anti-Rheumatoid Arthritis Drugs

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease leading to synovial hyperplasia and a series of multisystem comorbidities. Permanent disability usually occurs in 20–30 % of untreated patients within 2–3 years of the disease. Therefore, it is important to diagnose the disease and initiate treatment as early as possible. The drug therapy plays an important role in maintaining a state of very low disease activity and slowing the progression of joint damage. Traditional drug therapy in RA is a pyramid approach, in which nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) serve as the base of pyramid and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) are employed relatively late. But since this approach is no longer valid, many new drugs used to manage RA have been developed. In this review, we specifically summarize the current drug therapies for the treatment of RA and briefly describe the etiology, pathology and pathogenesis of RA.