News came yesterday of a drug trial which coud radically change the way newly-diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis patients are treated.  Current NICE guidelines for the treatment of early RA recommend agressive treatment with a combination of disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs).  Anti-TNF biologics can be offerered if DMARD treatment fails, with rituximab as back up should the Anti-TNFs be ineffective.

However, a recent trial led by Professor Paul-Peter Tak from the University of Amsterdam is set to turn this “gold standard” of treatment on its head.  The study took 755 patients who had been recently diagnosed with RA and had sufferered for less than a year.  These patients were treated with a combination of methotrexate (a DMARD) and rituximab - a drug that was originally developed to treat leukaemia.  The results were startling, of the patients receiving this therapy 30.5% experienced a significant reduction in symptoms compared with just 12.5% of patients who were taking just methotrexate.  What’s more, this treatment was significantly less expensive than Anti-TNF drug treatment.

The results of this study have the potential to change people’s lives. Let’s hope that NICE sits up and pays attention soon.