9 December 2017 - A draft report on medicine for the management of rheumatoid arthritis is now available for feedback from all interested stakeholders.

Newer biologic DMARDs became available several years ago. In 2010, CADTH published a Therapeutic Review of drugs used in rheumatoid arthritis that focused on biologics. Since then, the area of rheumatoid arthritis has continued to evolve:

Drugs known as small molecule DMARDs, or Janus-associated kinase (JAK) inhibitors, are now being used. Tofacitinib (Xeljanz) received Health Canada approval in April 2014 and baricitinib is in development.

There is new evidence that suggests traditional DMARDs are non-inferior to biologics in established rheumatoid arthritis.

Read CADTH draft science report