Whats the evidence for etanercept drugs?
The evidence that etanercept works is quite good. We found one good-quality study comparing etanercept to methotrexate.[1] The study looked at more than 600 people taking one of these drugs for a year. The study showed that both drugs worked to improve people’s symptoms. More than 60 percent of people taking etanercept had some improvement in joint pain and swelling. Also, people taking etanercept were less likely to get worn joints than people taking methotrexate. Another good quality study looked at what happened when people took both methotrexate and etanercept. It showed that this combination of drugs worked better than taking either drug on its own.[2] References Blumenauer B, Judd M, Cranney A, et al. Etanercept for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (Cochrane review). In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 4, 2007. Wiley, Chichester, UK. Klareskog L, et al. Therapeutic effect of the combination of etanercept and methotrexate compared with each treatment alone in patients with rheuma
