Combination of methotrexate and etanercept 'effective for rheumatoid arthritis patients'
A combination of methotrexate and etanercept can help people with active, early stage, moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a new report has suggested.
Researchers from the University of Leeds published their findings in the Lancet.
The trial involved 542 patients with early moderate-to-severe RA, who had not previously been treated with methotrexate.
Of these, 268 patients were offered methotrexate alone, while 274 were prescribed a combination of methotrexate and etanercept.
During the test, methotrexate was administered with a starting dose of 7.5 mg per week for up to eight weeks, while entanercept was administered at 50 mg per week.
It was found that 50 per cent of patients offered the combined treatment achieved remission, with 94 per cent reporting a good to moderate response. In contrast, just 28 per cent of the methotrexate group achieved remission from their RA.
As a result, Arthritis Research Campaign Professor of Rheumatology Paul Emery and the team concluded: "Both clinical remission and radiographic non-progression are achievable goals in patients with early severe rheumatoid arthritis within one year of combined treatment with etanercept plus methotrexate."
A spokesman for the Arthritis Research Campaign which developed and pioneered anti-TNF therapy (a class of drugs of which etanecept is one) said although these drugs were only currently licensed and NICE-approved for people with severe, late-stage RA, there was an increasing amount of evidence that they were also extremely effective in early RA.
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