Description: Three new drugs -- rituximab, abatacept and tocilizumab -- mark a new era in rheumatoid arthritis treatment, according to the authors of a study published online Tuesday in The Lancet medical journal.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory joint disease that causes joint pain, stiffness and swelling. Rituximab and abatacept have been approved for treatment of patients with this painful illness. Tocilizumab is currently being tested in phase III clinical trials.

Traditional treatments for rheumatoid arthritis include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), glucocorticoids, and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), which include the widely used Methotrexate. But only DMARDs, and to a certain extent glucocorticoids, can slow or halt rheumatoid arthritis' inflammatory and destructive disease processes, according to background information in the study.

Rituxamab targets the CD20 antigen in certain cells, leading to a