Animal Models of Arthritis: Pharmacological Intervention

Rheumatoid arthritis is an incurable chronic inflammatory and destructive arthopathy that affects 1% of the population world-wide. It has substantial personal, social and economic costs. The long-term prognosis is poor: 80 percent of affected patients will become disabled within 20 years after onset of disease. Medical costs of rheumatoid arthritis average ∼$ 6000 (US) per patient (1), Current antirheumatic drugs have limited efficacy and many side effects and more importantly they do not improve the long-term prognosis of rheumatoid arthritis (2). After a decade of few notable advances in therapy, several biological response modifiers that target pathophysiological processes in the disease have now emerged in the clinic. These new drugs are termed biological agents, and although information about their use in the clinic is still limited to short term treatment, they appear to have the ability to modify disease progress. In addition, COX-2 selective agents have now been approved that have comparable efficacy with standard NSAIDs, but fewer gastrointestinal side effects (3). Thus today many more therapeutic options are suddenly open to patients that even five years ago had little hope of relief from chronic pain and inflammation.