TNF inhibitors for inflammatory arthritis in New Zealand

For the vast majority of the estimated 100,000 New Zealanders who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis (RA), relatively inexpensive disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) regimens are sufficient to control inflammatory disease and maintain long-term function. Some DMARDs have been shown to slow, but not arrest, the progression of erosions. All but a few of those who suffer from ankylosing spondylitis (AS) can manage full social participation with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and an exercise regimen. For the small subset of arthritis sufferers who have disabling pain and progressive damage from uncontrolled inflammatory disease, the advent of the biological era offered great promise. In most of the developed world, this promise is being delivered to patients with an expanding range of diseases including RA, AS, and psoriatic arthritis, but central government (PHARMAC) funding for TNF inhibitors in New Zealand has until recently been limited to etanercept for approximately 40 patients with juvenile inflammatory arthritis.