Disease activity guided dose reduction and withdrawal of adalimumab or etanercept compared with usual care in rheumatoid arthritis
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Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) inhibitors, adalimumab or etanercept are the usual prescription drugs for rheumatoid arthritis but long-term treatment with such drugs is costly and may produce adverse effects. This engenders the need to optimize the dose of TNH inhibitors and its effect on disease activity.
To evaluate whether a disease activity guided strategy of dose reduction of two tumour necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors, adalimumab or etanercept is non-inferior in maintaining disease control in patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared with usual care.
A disease activity guided dose reduction strategy of adalimumab or etanercept to treat rheumatoid arthritis is non-inferior to usual care with regard to major flaring, while resulting in the successful dose reduction or stopping in two-thirds of patients.