RA Guidelines Emphasize Costs and Shared Decision Making

The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) has updated its treatment recommendations for rheumatoid arthritis to reflect new evidence and, for the first time, it considers drug costs. The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) has updated its treatment recommendations for rheumatoid arthritis to reflect new evidence and, for the first time, it considers drug costs. The updated guidelines are based on three systematic literature reviews leading to four overarching principles and 12 recommendations. The recommendations address conventional synthetic DMARDs, which include methotrexate, leflunomide and sulfasalazine; glucocorticoid use; biologic DMARDs, which include TNF-inhibitors, such as adalimumab, certolizumab pegol, etanercept, golimumab and infliximab; biosimilar DMARDs; targeted synthetic DMARDs, such as Jak inhibitors tofacitinib and baricitinib; and, abatacept, rituximab, tocilizumab, clazakizumab, sarilumab and sirukumab. “These recommendations intend to inform rheumatologists, patients, national rheumatology societies, hospital officials, social security agencies and regulators about EULAR's most recent consensus on the management of RA, aimed at attaining best outcomes with current therapies,” EULAR writes in the March 17 issue of Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. In this slideshow, we summarize the new recommendations. 

References:

Josef S Smolen, Robert Landewe, Johannes Bijlsma, et al. “EULAR recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis with synthetic and biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs: 2016 update,” Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 2017;0:1–18. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-210715