Skip Navigation


Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on April 4, 2008
Rheumatology 2008 47(6):865-867; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/ken103
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
47/6/865    most recent
ken103v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by McGonagle, D.
Right arrow Articles by Emery, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by McGonagle, D.
Right arrow Articles by Emery, P.
Related Collections
Right arrow Rheumatoid Arthritis
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Rituximab use in everyday clinical practice as a first-line biologic therapy for the treatment of DMARD-resistant rheumatoid arthritis

D. McGonagle1,2, A. L. Tan2, J. Madden1, L. Taylor1 and P. Emery2

1Department of Rheumatology, Calderdale Royal Hospital, Salterhebble, Halifax and 2Academic Unit of Musculoskeletal Disease, University of Leeds and Chapel Allerton Hospital, Leeds, UK.

Correspondence to: D. McGonagle, Academic Unit of Musculoskeletal Disease, Chapel Allerton Hospital, Chapeltown Road, Leeds LS7 4SA, UK. E-mail: d.g.mcgonagle{at}leeds.ac.uk


  Abstract

Objectives. This study assessed the utility of rituximab for the therapy of RA in a non-academic environment in a group of cases where anti-TNF was either not available or relatively contraindicated.

Methods. Thirty-nine patients with active RA who had failed at least one DMARD received two rituximab infusions 2 weeks apart. Seventeen patients received two 1000 mg doses, and 22 received the 500 mg regimen. The 28-joint disease activity index (DAS28) and European League against Rheumatism (EULAR) response criteria were recorded at baseline, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. RF and ANA were recorded at baseline and at 6 and 12 months.

Results. There was a significant improvement in the DAS28 at all time points, and EULAR response was observed in 29 of 33 patients (87.9%) at 3 months, 25 of 33 patients (75.8%) at 6 months, 22 of 29 patients (75.9%) at 9 months and 23 of 30 patients (76.7) at 12 months. Improvement was also noted in CRP, and both RF and ANA were generally reduced after treatment. Patients who were on the higher regimen of two 1000 mg doses appeared to respond slightly better compared with the lower dose regimen.

Conclusions. Rituximab is well tolerated in everyday clinical practice and may represent a good short-term treatment option where anti-TNF therapy is either unavailable or relatively contraindicated.

KEY WORDS: Rituximab, Rheumatoid arthritis, Biologics, Anti-tumour necrosis factor, Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, DAS28, European League Against Rheumatism response

Submitted 27 November 2007; revised version accepted 8 February 2008.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.