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Treatment options for rheumatoid arthritis, and their costs, have expanded greatly in the past 15 years. Etanercept combined with methotrexate attenuates disease progression and limits extra-articular manifestations. The treatment goal is to maximize therapy until the patient enters remission or has low disease activity for a sustained period. Whether treatment can then be withdrawn or decreased has not been studied well. In this two-stage, industry-funded study, researchers gave weekly subcutaneous 50-mg etanercept to 834 patients who were receiving stable doses of methotrexate (15–25 mg weekly) who continued to have moderate disease activity scores in 28 joints ([DAS28]; scores between 3.2 and 5.1). At 36 weeks, the 604 patients with sust…