BOSTON – What is the best initial therapeutic approach to RF-negative polyarticular, oligoarticular, or psoriatic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)?
The BeST for Kids study is a multicenter, 2-year, randomized trial that is examining the utility of three different treatment arms in disease modifying antirheumatic disease-naive children, aged 2-16 years, with JIA durations of less than 18 months. The study also examines whether inactive disease is a realistic treatment target, if drug-free remissions are possible, and whether restarting medication is effective when relapse occurs.
In our exclusive interview at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, Dr. Petra C.E. Hissink Muller of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, discusses the trial’s rationale and initial results from the first 3 months of the study.