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Taking Adalimumab For Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Taking adalimumab for Rheumatoid Arthritis
This newsletter is designed to help practising pharmacists understand the application of the basis sciences to practice concerning adalimumab. Lots of practical advice is based on pharmaceutical sciences but once you enter practice it can be hard to remember or find out the basis of why we advise patients in specific ways or why you or other health professionals should handle medicines in certain ways.
An effective anti-TNF
Adalimumab is an anti-tumour necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNFα) drug used for the treatment of Rheumatic disease, specifically rheumatoid arthritis (Joint Formulary Committee., 2014).
Basics of Rheumatoid Arthritis and its treatments.
Around 70% of arthritis sufferers in the UK have rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Women are also more likely to develop RA than men, and commonly affects adults between ages 50 and 60. This condition is characterised by an insidious onset of pain, swelling of joints and morning stiffness. Arthritis is caused by inflammation of the synovial tissue of the joints, supposedly triggered by the presence of autobodies such as rheumatoid factors. The first line treatment for RA is a combination of disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD). These slow down the progression of RA and treatment typically includes methotrexate in combination with another DMARD (e.g. sulphasalazine). Short term glucocorticoids are also used with DMARDS to manage flares of inflammation. Anti-TNF drugs

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