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About this site
RAoutlook.org is a free educational Web site designed to provide rheumatologists and other health care professionals with the latest information and education on advances in the management of patients with RA.
Mark Genovese, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
Palo Alto, CA
Introduction
In this Expert Practice, Dr. Mark Genovese discusses the concurrent use of traditional disease-modifiying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) with other DMARDs or in combination with biologic agents for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Dr. Genovese also discusses the influence of patient factors and diagnostic tests on the decision to place a patient on combination therapy.
Although there are currently no guidelines to dictate when a patient with RA should be started on combination therapy with DMARDs and biologics, this combination can be considered from the moment a patient is diagnosed with RA. However, as Dr. Genovese points out, it may be more reasonable for most patients to begin treatment with a single DMARD or a combination of traditional DMARDs before receiving combination therapy with a biologic and a DMARD.