Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory joint disease that afflicts 0.5 - 1% of the World’s population. Women are three times more likely to get arthritis than men. In the late stage of the disease, irreversible damage to joint cartilage and bones occurs. Causes of this disease are genetic as well as autoimmune factors. Besides pain-relieving medicines, so-called disease-modifying medicines (DMARDs = disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs) can be used in treatment. DMARDs can be synthetic small molecules or biologicals (for example antibodies). They differ from other groups of drugs used in the treatment of rheumatoid diseases, because they are able to stop or reduce damage caused from chronic inflammation to the joint cartilage or bone. In the most favourable cases, some DMARDs can also induce repair of joints and provide support for the repair of changes that have already occurred.