Management of rheumatoid arthritis in People's Republic of China - focus on tocilizumab and patient considerations.

ABSTRACT: The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is 0.19%-0.41% in Chinese population. RA exerts profound influence on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), which imposed huge burdens on patients physically, mentally, and economically. As a developing country, People's Republic of China faces enormous challenges in management of RA. Conventional-synthesized disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) remain the most selective therapeutic options for RA in People's Republic of China owing to their affordable price and fair efficacy as well as tolerability. Unfortunately, there are substantial RA patients who are poor responders to csDMARDs, even to subsequently combined therapy with tumor necrosis factor antagonist (anti-TNF). Tocilizumab (TCZ) has been approved as a subsequent-line biolo

SUBMITTER: Wang G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4435442 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature