toid arthritis, drugs and biologicals are now available which are not primarily analgesics or anti-inflammatory agents but which have the capacity to prevent or slow structural damage in the rheumatoid joint (eg methotrexate, leflunomide, etanercept, infliximab). Similarly, in animal models of osteoarthritis (OA), pharmacological and biological agents have been identified whose primary action i...

WHILE the treatment of RA has become more aggressive in recent years by the earlier use of second-line agents, remissions, as measured by the ACR [1], resulting from these therapies are rare. Concern has been expressed that the mortality risk in patients with RA is similar to that seen in Stage IV Hodgkin's disease or three vessel coronary artery disease [2]. Certainly, the consideration of dis...