Cure for RA possible
In Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), long-term medication-free periods are considered a cure. In a large 5-year clinical trial called IMPROVED, it was shown that such long term medication-free periods of over 1-year could be achieved in RA patients diagnosed early (symptoms for less than one-year).
At 5-years, half of the RA patients (54%) were medication free at least once. In this study, 24 patients (4%) remained off all medications throughout 5-years. Of the patients diagnosed early (<1-year) with RA, 35% achieved sustained medication-free remission [1].
This study is extremely encouraging and highlights that cure for RA is possible especially if diagnosed early and treated appropriately [2].
A recent study showed that sustained drug-free remission (DFR > 1 year) – in other words cure, was achieved in 10 – 20% of RA patients which is a substantial cause of further hope [3].