For patients with polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), use of early combination therapy resulted in better outcomes compared to the conventional step-up approach or initial biologic monotherapy, noted a prospective observational study presented at the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) virtual meeting.

At 24 months, 59.4% of the patients who had received early combination therapy with a conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) and a biologic had attained clinically inactive disease (CID) and were not on glucocorticoids. On the other hand, 48% of the patients who had started treatment with biologic monotherapy achieved CID and were off glucocorticoids at 24 months, but only 40.1% of the patients who initially received step-up therapy starting with a conventional DMARD and adding a biologic after 3 or more months if required… (Medpage Today)