Treating to target in rheumatoid arthritis - challenges and opportunities

The treat to target approach to managing therapy in rheumatoid arthritis was only just formally proposed in 2010, yet it is clearly here to stay. While the original recommendations were based on a limited set of published data, subsequent studies have explored the role of the treat to target approach in a variety of clinical settings and have confirmed its value. Despite this, additional data is needed, and challenges still remain in the widespread implementation of the treat to target strategy. Some of these challenges are at the patient level, some are at the physician level, and some are at the system level. The identification of these challenges is in itself an opportunity to improve the treat to target paradigm in order to maximize the outcomes of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.