Personal experience in the treatment of seropositive rheumatoid arthritis with drugs used in combination.

Drug therapy for seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is entirely empiric. Single agents often fail to control synovial inflammation adequately. Combination therapy with relatively small doses of several agents shown to be effective in controlled trials when used alone often produce sustained and marked therapeutic control. Adverse effects are frequent but probably are no greater than those associated with the use of an effective dose of a single agent. As in the treatment of malignancy or tuberculosis, the use of potent drugs in combination may prevent or delay the clonal expansion of resistant cells. If this is indeed the case in the treatment of RA, then consideration should be given to the routine use of drug combinations. It is conceivable that we do patients a disservice by using potentially valuable drugs sequentially rather than in tandem. Whatever its merits, combination drug therapy for seropositive RA is clearly a stopgap measure whose usefulness will end as more specific means of controlling joint inflammation become available.