New-age Medication for Rheumatoid Arthritis

With the advances in science and technology, we have seen a lot of progress in the field of medicine as well. Researchers and scientists have now come up with drugs and medications far superior than earlier available. Here is an account of the new-age drugs which have come to help many suffering from arthritis. 

Anakinra is biologic treatment that is used to treat moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. It works by binding to a cell messenger protein (IL-1, a proinflammation cytokine) and is injected under the skin daily. The response rate of anakinra does not seem as high as with other biologic medications.

Rituxan (rituximab) is an antibody that was first used to treat lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes. It is now known to treat moderate to severely active rheumatoid arthritis in patients who have failed the TNF-blocking biologics. Preliminary studies have shown that both rituxan and orecia are beneficial in treating severe rheumatoid arthritis complicated by blood vessel inflammation (vasculitis) and cryoglobulinemia. While biologic medications are often combined with traditional DMARDs in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, they are generally not used with other biologic medications because of unacceptable risk for serious infections.