Optimal treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: EULAR recommendations for clinical practice

Three important concepts have become standard of care in treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA): 1) development of new drugs: biologic agents; 2) treatment strategies: not an individual drug, but the timely combination of different drugs, given as a specific strategy; 3) treat to target: targeting treatment to the individual patient and adapting treatment when necessary. These concepts led to the development of the European League against Rheumatism recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with synthetic and biological disease‑modifying antirheumatic drugs. Three so called overarching principles have been formulated, followed by 15 concrete recommendations for the management of RA. These 15 recommendations are described and discussed in this review, with some personal comments. An enormous gain in the development of RA has been achieved, and it is now time to consolidate that gain and make optimal treatment available for every RA patient in Europe. The guidelines described in this article will help physicians to actually do so.