Strong medications called disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) work by interfering with or suppressing the immune system's attack on the joints. They include:
- Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), originally used to treat malaria
- Immune suppression drugs, such as methotrexate
- Biologic treatments, such as abatacept (Orencia), adalimumab (Humira), adalimumab-atto (Amjevita), anakinra (Kineret), certolizumab (Cimzia), etanercept (Enbrel), etanercept-szzs(Ereizi), golimumab (Simponi and Simponi Aria), infliximab (Remicade), infliximab-dyyb (Inflectra), rituximab (Rituxan), sarilumab (Kevzara), and tocilizumab (Actemra)
- Other drugs, such as leflunomide (Arava), sulfasalazine (Azulfidine), tofacitinib (Xeljanz), and upadacitinib (Rinvoq)