Living better with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Doctors diagnosed it as rheumatoid arthritis. “And I thought that life as I knew it, was over,” said Moore.

He got his life back after by enrolling in a clinical trial of one of the drugs and drug combinations that are revolutionising the treatment.

Rheumatoid arthritis is the world’s most common autoimmune disease, striking up to 1 in 100 in course of a lifetime. It is most often diagnosed in people ages 30 to 60 but it can occur at any time, including childhood. As with other autoimmune diseases, women are three to four times likelier than men to develop rheumatoid arthritis. The disease causes chronic joint inflammation and progressive destruction of cartilage at the ends of bones, which can result in an inability to use the affected joints. Other effects include fatigue, malaise, anaemia and damage to organs throughout the body, including the cardiovascular system. Untreated, 20 to 30 per cent of people become permanently disabled within three to five years of diagnosis. Life expectancy may be reduced by as much as 15 years, with half of patients succumbing to cardiovascular disease.

A therapeutic revolution

Doctors traditionally treated the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, usually with anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving medications. But the underlying destruction of tissues continued, leading to chronic disability and premature death.

Today, the goal today is suppression of the disease and prevention of progressive joint destruction by treating patients early with synthetic or biologic agents called disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.

Though he did not know it at the time, Moore was randomly assigned to the study group that every two weeks self-injected a biologically derived drug called Humira, which acts to block a protein...