Refractory rheumatoid arthritis has limited treatment options as patients do not respond well to existing therapy. However, a new study published in New England Journal of Medicine, suggests baricitinib as a potent candidate after phase 3 clinical trial results. The success of the plethora of drugs now used for treating rheumatoid arthritis also carries a downside, that increasing numbers of patients become refractory.
The drugs they take no longer provide sufficient benefit, or they may produce unacceptable side effects, or both. As a result, clinicians have estimated, some 15 to 20 % of rheumatoid arthritis patients find themselves in the position of having exhausted the current inventory of available medications. The group of researchers from Stanford University, published the study in the renowned New England Journal of Medicine , which was focused on the results of the phase 3…
