Patients who have an inadequate response to tumor necrosis factor May use Rituximab to prevent damage progression in rheimatoid arthritis,40% of rheimatoid arthritis patients with no achieve of any response with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors.

Rheimatoid Arthritis

whether treatment with rituximab, a monoclonal antibody that selectively targets CD20-positive B cells, would inhibit the progression of structural joint damage in 517 RA patients who exhibit an inadequate response to TNF inhibitors.

In this phase 3 study, patients received either rituximab plus methotrexate or placebo plus methotrexate.

The mean progression of joint damage after 56 weeks of treatment (as measured by the total Genant-modified Sharp score) was significantly lower in the rituximab group than in the placebo group, the authors report.

Patients in the rituximab group had fewer erosions and less joint space narrowing than did patients in the placebo group, the report indicates.

for this study that make firest evidence about B cell-targeted therapy and rituximab how it prevent damage progression in rheimatoid arthritis patients