Biologic drugs mavrilimumab and golimumab may work well for some people with rheumatoid arthritis

People with rheumatoid arthritis who don’t respond to first-line treatment could have better luck on one of two biologic drugs.

Mavrilimumab and golimumab seem to be effective and well-tolerated in people who have already tried disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and anti-tumor necrosis factors.

Reporting their findings in Arthritis & Rheumatology, scientists tried mavrilimumab (100mg given every other week) on 70 people and golimumab (50mg every four weeks) on 68 people with rheumatoid arthritis, along with methotrexate. Although there were negative side effects in around half of the volunteers, these were not deemed too serious.

“Mavrilimumab and golimumab both demonstrated clinical efficacy and were well-tolerated,” the team concludes.

Click here to read the original research. 

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