MSc Biology of Disease & Therapeutics – Coursework 1 2017

Deadline for coursework submission: 12:00 on Friday week 9

Week 2 – Rheumatoid Arthritis Questions

The introduction of anti-TNF biological therapy changed rheumatoid arthritis treatment and the pharmaceutical industry as a whole. In this piece of course work you should select an existing or new biological therapy, other than anti-TNF, that you believe will/has played an important role in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. This can be an anti-cytokines therapy but does not have to be, as long as it’s classed as a biological therapy*, I’m happy for you to push this definition as long as you justify it. Your chosen therapy also doesn’t

have to be ‘the best’ therapy, just one that has the ability (or may have) to be an effective RA therapy (e.g. a therapy that only works in 2% of patients is still important if those 2% don’t respond to any other of the available therapies).

In this report you should include appropriate background on your therapy (what form it takes, it’s mode of action, it’s impact on disease processes, effect on the patient) and justify why it is an important therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (you can justify this by any reasonable measure: efficacy, which patients respond to it, cost to health care provider, reduced side effect, administration route, length of action). Be as creative as you like in your justification but be sure that your argument is backed up by published literature and you include the citations.

This is meant to be a concise piece of work of 400-500 words. You should aim to complete this piece of work in under 90 minutes (including research time).

* A type of treatment that uses substances made from living organisms to treat disease. These substances may occur naturally in the body or may be made in the laboratory.