Those of us who remember those days when the only treatment for rheumatoid arthritis was aspirin and hot paraffin, also remember that to speak of remission was considered by many an audacious act.

However, in the past twenty years, two breakthroughs allowed for improvement in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: 

1. The development of measures of response for rheumatoid arthritis, accepted by regulatory agencies such as the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and...