Given a lack of head-to-head comparisons of the efficacy and safety of different biologic agents for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, can we instead compare systematic reviews that assess one agent at a time, or does heterogeneity between studies limit the usefulness of this approach?
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
The Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group. What is a systematic review? [online], (2010).
Singh, J. A. et al. Biologics for rheumatoid arthritis: an overview of Cochrane reviews. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 4. Article No.: CD007848. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD007848.pub2 (2009).
Smolen, J. S., Aletaha, D., Koeller, M., Weisman, M. & Emery, P. New therapies for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Lancet 370, 1861–1874 (2007).
van Vollenhoven, R. F. et al. Addition of infliximab compared with addition of sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroquine to methotrexate in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (Swefot trial): 1-year results of a randomised trial. Lancet 374, 459–466 (2009).
Emery, P. et al. Early referral recommendation for newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis: evidence based development of a clinical guide. Ann. Rheum. Dis. 61, 290–297 (2002).
Schoels, M. et al. Follow-up standards and treatment targets in rheumatoid arthritis (RA): results of a questionnaire at the EULAR 2008. Ann. Rheum. Dis. 69, 631–637 (2010).
Luce, B. R. et al. Rethinking randomized clinical trials for comparative effectiveness research: the need for transformational change. Ann. Intern. Med. 151, 206–209 (2009).
Smolen, J. S. et al. EULAR recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis with synthetic and biological disease modifying antirheumatic drugs. Ann. Rheum. Dis. (in press).
Gaujoux-Viala, C. et al. Current evidence for the management of rheumatoid arthritis with synthetic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs: a systematic literature review informing the EULAR recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis. Ann. Rheum. Dis. (in press).
Nam, J. L. et al. Current evidence for the management of rheumatoid arthritis with biological disease modifying antirheumatic drugs: a systematic literature review informing the EULAR recommendations for the management of RA. Ann. Rheum. Dis. (in press).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author has acted as a consultant for and has received grant support and/or honoraria from Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Centocor, Roche, Schering-Plough, UCB and Wyeth, and has acted as a consultant for Amgen.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Smolen, J. How well can we compare different biologic agents for RA?. Nat Rev Rheumatol 6, 247–248 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2010.58
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2010.58
