New treatments for rheumatoid arthritis. Available and upcoming slow-acting antirheumatic drugs.

No single therapeutic agent has been found to be universally effective for rheumatoid arthritis, so regimens using combinations of drugs have become the rule. Recently, several new agents with unique mechanisms of action have been introduced and found to produce various degrees of clinical benefit. Among these agents are folate and purine antagonists, alkylating agents, and antipyrimidines. Chimeric (mouse/ human) monoclonal antibody to tumor necrosis factor-alpha and human recombinant interleukin-1 receptor antagonist await approval for general use but have undergone considerable study.