Antirheumatic Therapy: Actions and Outcomes

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. Medicinal chemistry of the disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs

   • Garry G. Graham

   Pages 1-24

3. Targeting DMARD therapy

   • Maria E. Suarez-Almazor

   Pages 25-47

4. Pharmacoeconomic properties of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs

   • Andreas Maetzel, Daniel H. Solomon

   Pages 49-67

5. Future molecular targets

   • Keystone Edward C., Haraoui Boulos

   Pages 69-80

6. Hydroxychloroquine

   • Bothwell Beau, Daniel E. Furst

   Pages 81-92

7. Sulfasalazine

   • Cees J. Haagsma

   Pages 93-132

8. Parenteral gold

   • Rolf Rau

   Pages 133-161

9. Azathioprine

   • David Kanel, Barry Bresnihan

   Pages 163-173

10. Methotrexate

    • Kevin Pile

    Pages 175-197

11. Leflunomide

    • Alberta Hoi, Geoffrey Littlejohn

    Pages 199-219

12. Cyclosporin

    • Arno W. R. van Kuijk, Ben A. C. Dijkmans

    Pages 221-236

13. Tetracyclines

    • Kristin Bird, James R. O’Dell

    Pages 237-245

14. Systemic glucocorticoids in rheumatoid arthritis

    • John R. Kirwan, Mark G. Perry

    Pages 247-264

15. TNF-α inhibitors

    • Zuhre Tutuncu, Arthur Kavanaugh

    Pages 265-278

16. Anakinra in rheumatoid arthritis

    • Barry Bresnihan

    Pages 279-291

17. Combination therapy

    • Ernest Choy, Harold E. Paulus

    Pages 293-318

18. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of severe autoimmune diseases

    • Alan Tyndall, Jacob M. van Laar

    Pages 319-336

19. Back Matter

    Pages 337-346

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Our goal for this book is to examine the contemporary therapy of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from the increasingly important perspective of impact upon quality of life, costs and long-term health outcomes. For too long the focus has been on short­ term, symptomatic, and surrogate indicator outcomes. Yet RA is a life-long disor­ der with the majority of impact on an individual patient many years following onset. Further, even in the short-term, researchers and rheumatologists have tended to emphasize measurements of disease activity such as joint counts, ESR and physi­ cian's opinion as to the amount of disease activity present. It is only relatively recently that measures of structural damage, quality of life and impact on broad domains of health have been given increasing emphasis. Also, the significance of early treatment of RA in order to optimise long-term outcomes has a relatively short history [1]. We have been focussed on the disease processes as surrogates for long­ term outcomes. Until the short-term process measures are validated as surrogates of long-term effects we should also turn our attention to outcomes of disease and the impact of our management on those outcomes [2). Inour view, this book is especially timely. We are at the dawn of a revolution in the management of RA and other complex immunological inflammatory disorders because their molecular, genetic and environmental mechanisms are being unrav­ elled. Inthe process, we are revealing a substantial number of novel and significant targets for pharmacotherapy.

• Arthritis
• autoimmune disease
• cell
• chemistry
• diseases
• economics
• medicinal chemistry
• pharmacology
• quality of life
• research
• rheumatism
• rheumatoid arthritis
• therapy
• toxicity
• transplantation

• Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, St. Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, Sydney, Australia

  Richard O. Day

• Carl M.Pearson Professor of Rheumatology, Los Angeles, USA

  Daniel E. Fürst

• 546 Dept. of Rheumatology, University Hospital Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

  Piet L. C. M. Riel

• Department of Rheumatology, St Vicent’s University Hospital, Dublin 4, Ireland

  Barry Bresnihan

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