Since the immunologic approach to the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis has reached a point of diminishing returns, a study has been made of possible mechanisms of action both of those drugs believed to help this disease and those drugs that produce or exacerbate it.
Beneficial drugs for rheumatoid arthritis may be broadly divided into those with immediate activity, mainly such anti-inflammatory agents as salicylates, adrenocortical steroids, phenylbutazone, indomethacin, flufenamic and mefenamic acids, and those with delayed activity such as gold and the antimalarials. Drugs that may produce a rheumatoid-like picture, or at least one of a related connective tissue disease,