Press release – Medac at DGRh 2017

Enhancing the potential of methotrexate.

Optimise rheumatism treatment with Metoject® and ensure long-term success of therapy

Stuttgart / Wedel (September 11, 2017). There is room for improvement in drug treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with the gold standard methotrexate (MTX). Current analyses of the CAPEA cohort suggest that German rheumatology exploits the potential of methotrexate as initial treatment and follows the treatment guidelines closely: “After 3 months, 82 % of patients with a diagnosis of RA were given first line treatment with methotrexate. […] In 78 % of the patients treated with methotrexate, the starting dose was 15 mg weekly”. Long-term data from the core documentation also confirm at 61 % the great importance of MTX in the treatment  of RA. Current data from  a German health insurance, however, paint  a dramatically different picture nationwide. Given that csDMARDS account for 35 % of drug treatment, Germany is some way from appropriate therapeutic treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

The symposium on methotrexate sponsored by Medac at the DGRh congress in Stuttgart addressed this issue. As well as a new research project on the actual medical treatment situation, various options for improving the first line therapy with MTX were revealed.

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