Methotrexate in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract

Many drugs currently used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis were originally suggested around 1950. The first clinical studies of antimalarial agents, alkylating agents, sulfasalazine, analogues of folic acid, and corticosteroids were performed during that period. The dramatic effects produced by corticosteroids tended to eclipse consideration of alternative forms of drug therapy for nearly a decade. With the recognition that corticosteroids have substantial toxicity and do not alter fundamental disease processes, attention has slowly turned to a reexamination of the other drugs.The folic acid antagonist methotrexate is the latest drug to undergo this careful scrutiny. An early study of . . .