The efficacy and safety of golimumab in the treatment of arthritis.

IMPORTANCE OF THE FIELD: Twenty-five years ago, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was a relentless disease, treated symptomatically because of the lack of effective, well tolerated medications which could halt disease in most patients. The introduction of methotrexate, sulfasalazine and leflunomide, and aggressive treatment, changed the prognosis of RA in the 1990s. Biologic therapies have dramatically changed the long-term prognosis of patients with rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis.

AREAS COVERED IN THIS REVIEW: Unfortunately, no one single agent is fully effective in every patient. For this reason, another agent, golimumab (GLM), a TNF-alpha inhibitor (TNF-I) was developed. The basis of this review is all peer-reviewed manuscripts on GLM in the treatment of RA, psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) found in Pub Med. and Medline from 2000 to 2010 and abstracts presented at the major rheumatology congresses within the past five years.

WHAT THE READER WILL GAIN: This review describes the efficacy and safety of GLM and should enable an understanding of the benefit-risk profile of GLM in the treatment of RA, PsA and AS.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE: GLM is effective and has a safety profile similar to other TNF-I in the treatment of RA, AS and PsA.