The emerging new arthritis drugs

Preview

So many new drugs for relief of pain in arthritis have been introduced during the past decade that the busy physician is hard pressed to keep them straight Are they all alike, or is it worthwhile to try another when one or two have failed to help? Do they do more than relieve pain? As a practicing rheumatologist, research investigator, and co-director of the national rheumatic disease data bank, Dr Roth has had an opportunity to review a large clinical experience with arthritis, on which he bases his opinions about the new arthritis drugs—“a view from the real world,” as he calls it. While many of Dr Roth's opinions are unique to that experience, his article provides an effective framework for considering use of these drugs.