Effect of a treatment strategy of tight control for rheumatoid arthritis (the TICORA study): a single-blind randomised controlled trial

The good initial response to therapy with a combination of traditional disease‐modifying antirheumatic drugs is sustained over time: The eleven‐year results of the Finnish rheumatoid arthritis combination therapy trial

“…The short-term advantages of early, tight control of RA have been demonstrated by Scottish (33) and Danish (34,35) studies. The present study shows that the consequences of effective initial treatment extend from sustained low levels of disease activity and preserved functional capacity to normal life expectancy.…”

Superior efficacy of combination therapy for rheumatoid arthritis: Fact or fiction?

“…In any case, the strategy of tight control, with rapid switching of therapeutic regimens, in patients who have active disease despite receiving such regimens will lead to further improvements in therapeutic success (47,54,55). Importantly, the best evidence for a benefit of combination therapy is demonstrated by studies of TNF blockers, where their combination with MTX is significantly superior to monotherapy with either agent with respect to clinical, functional, and radiographic outcome.…”

Response to traditional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs in indigent South Africans with early rheumatoid arthritis

“…The concept that response to DMARDs is evident within 3-6 months of initiating therapy has been described previously 24 and emphasizes the importance of escalating DMARD therapy early and rapidly in patients who fail to achieve at least LDA. These findings call for a more aggressive approach to the use traditional DMARDs, and an intense "treat-to-target" strategy such as used in the TICORA and FIN-RACo studies, needs to be explored in this setting 25,26 .…”