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Targeting DMARD therapy

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Antirheumatic Therapy: Actions and Outcomes

Part of the book series: Progress in Inflammation Research ((PIR))

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Abstract

Medical advances in the past few years have opened an exciting era in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). For the first time, physicians and their patients are faced with a variety of therapeutic choices in the management of RA and must make decisions about specific disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), including potential combinations of different agents. A careful balance of short-term and long-term benefits and risks must be considered. In addition, financial and societal issues play a role in these already complex therapeutic decisions with increasing frequency. The cost of healthcare has skyrocketed in the past decades. Policymakers, physicians and their patients are faced everyday with decisional conflicts coupled with constraints in health budgets around the world, that must balance not only health outcomes, but also economic costs to patients, providers and society at large. These considerations are particularly salient when assessing the therapeutic benefits of the newly developed biologic agents which are substantially more costly than traditional DMARDS, but which could be cost-effective if they reduce long-term damage and disability.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, 2002 Holcombe (152), Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Maria E. Suarez-Almazor

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  1. Maria E. Suarez-Almazor
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, St. Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, Victoria Street Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2010, Australia

    Richard O. Day

  2. 546 Dept. of Rheumatology, University Hospital Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Piet L. C. M. van Riel

  3. Carl M.Pearson Professor of Rheumatology, 1000 Veteran Ave Rm 32-59, Los Angeles, CA, 90025-1670, USA

    Daniel E. FĂĽrst

  4. Department of Rheumatology, St Vicent’s University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland

    Barry Bresnihan

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© 2005 Birkhäuser Verlag Basel/Switzerland

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Suarez-Almazor, M.E. (2005). Targeting DMARD therapy. In: Day, R.O., Fürst, D.E., van Riel, P.L.C.M., Bresnihan, B. (eds) Antirheumatic Therapy: Actions and Outcomes. Progress in Inflammation Research. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-7726-7_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-7726-7_2

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser Basel

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-7643-6595-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-7643-7726-7

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