Update on the British Society for Rheumatology guidelines for prescribing TNF blockers in adults with rheumatoid arthritis (update of previous guidelines of April 2001)

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Abstract
These guidelines have been developed for use by prescribing secondary-care rheumatologists. They are intended to indicate which adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may benefit from the anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapies, precautions that need to be taken in their use and to highlight potential side-effects from these therapies. The previous guidelines applied to the then available anti-TNF therapies (etanercept and infliximab) [1]. These current guidelines would apply to these two products together with adalimumab, which is a newly licensed anti-TNF therapy for RA. This is a rapidly changing field with new data emerging each month, so that it is vital that clinicians keep up to date with this area of practice. These guidelines can only incorporate information that was available to the authors at the time of their completion.