A fresh look at glucocorticoids how to use an old ally more effectively

Abstract

Glucocorticoids form a mainstay of therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other conditions since they exert strong anti-inflammatory, immunosuppressive, and disease-modifying therapeutic effects. However, there is increasing awareness of the potential for these drugs to produce adverse effects. Therefore, improvement of the glucocorticoid benefit-risk ratio represents both a current need and an ongoing challenge. The development of recommendations to implement a more effective and safer use of these important drugs is one useful path to pursue. An additional avenue is the development of innovative glucocorticoids or glucocorticoid receptor ligands. Also, treatment with conventional glucocorticoid preparations currently available to clinicians may be improved. The most advanced development in the latter regard is a novel chronotherapeutic prednisone formulation called delayed- release (DR) or modified-release prednisone. The CAPRA (Circadian Administration of Prednisone in Rheumatoid Arthritis) studies confirmed that optimizing the timing of GC administration improves the benefit-risk ratio of long- term low dose glucocorticoid treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. DR prednisone has been approved in 16 European countries as well as Australia and Israel. Very recently, DR prednisone was also approved in the United States to treat rheumatologic conditions such as RA, polymyalgia rheumatica and psoriatic arthritis, as well as respiratory conditions such as COPD and asthma.