מתוך medicontext.co.il
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) – Leflunomide, a member of a new class of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, maintains efficacy and safety in patients with rheumatoid arthritis over a 2-year period.
Dr. D. L. Scott, of King's College Hospital, London, and a multinational team compared the long-term safety and efficacy of leflunomide with that of sulfasalazine in 358 rheumatoid arthritis patients. They randomly assigned the patients to either leflunomide 20 mg/day, sulfasalazine 2 g/day, or placebo for a period of 6 months. Those who completed this phase were given the option of continuing in 12- and 24- extensions.
"Improvement in functional ability, global assessments, and American College of Rheumatology response rates were significantly better with leflunomide than with sulfasalazine at two years," Dr. Scott and colleagues say in the October 1st issue of the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases. The slowing of disease progression and other measures of drug efficacy were similar in the two groups.
Moreover, leflunomide was well tolerated, with no unexpected adverse events or late toxicity.
The new findings demonstrate that the previously reported 6- and 12-month benefits of leflunomide are maintained at 2 years, the investigators say. "With the current trend of early intervention with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, leflunomide, which in clinical trial situations offers a good balance between efficacy and toxicity and a rapid onset of benefits on function and joint damage, may, with extended experience in routine clinical settings be a first choice when considering disease-modifying antirheumatic drug treatment," they conclude.
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