CONSENSUS STATEMENT

Updated consensus statement on biological agents, specifically tumour necrosis factor (TNF) blocking agents and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra), for the treatment of rheumatic diseases, 2004

D E Furst¹, F C Breedveld², J R Kalden³, J S Smolen⁴, G R Burmester⁵, J W J Bijlsma⁶, M Dougados⁷, P Emery⁸, E C Keystone⁹, L Klareskog¹⁰, P J Mease¹¹

¹ University of California, UCLA, Rheumatology Division, Los Angeles, CA, USA
² Department of Rheumatology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands
³ Department of Internal Medicine III, Institut for Clinical Immunology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany
⁴ Institute of Rheumatology, Clinic for Internal Medicine III, Vienna General Hospital, Vienna, Austria
⁵ Department of Rheumatology, and Clinical Immunology, Charité Hospital, Berlin, Germany
⁶ Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University Medical Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands
⁷ Institut de Rhumatologie, Hopital Cochin, Paris, France
⁸ Leeds University, Department of Rheumatology, Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds, UK
⁹ Department of Rheumatology, Mount Sinai Hospitial, Toronto, Canada
¹⁰ Rheumatology Unit, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
¹¹ Rheumatology Clinical Research, Swedish Hospital Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr D E Furst
1000 Veteran Avenue Rehabilitation Centre, Room 32–59, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA; defurst@mednet.ucla.edu

Abbreviations: aCL, anticardiolipin antibodies; ACR, American College of Rheumatology; ANA, antinuclear antibodies; AS, ankylosing spondylitis; CHF, congestive heart failure; DAS, Disease Activity Score; DMARD, disease modifying antirheumatic drug; EULAR, European League Against Rheumatism; HAQ-DI, Health Assessment Questionnaire disability index; IL-1ra, interleukin-1 receptor antagonist; MTX, methotrexate; NHL, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; PsA, psoriatic arthritis; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; RCT, randomised controlled trial; SDAI, Simple Disease Activity Index; TNF, tumour necrosis factor; VAS, visual analogue scale

Keywords: TNF blocking; RA; psoriatic arthritis; ankylosing spondylitis; inflammation; immunity; IL-1ra; guideline

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

As in previous years, the consensus group to consider the use of biological agents was constituted by rheumatologists from the Universities of Erlangen, Leiden, and Vienna in Europe in cooperation with other Universities in the USA, Canada, and Europe. Pharmaceutical industry support was obtained from a number of companies, but these institutions had no part in the decisions about the specific programme or about the academic participants at this conference.

The perspective of this consensus is from the treating physician’s point of view.

The 128 rheumatologists and bioscientists who attended the consensus conference were chosen from a worldwide group of physicians and other scientists from 20 countries with expertise in the use of biological agents for the treatment of rheumatic diseases. The number of attendees and participants were limited so that not everyone who might have been interested could be invited.

Additional information has come to light in the past . . . [Full text of this article]

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