Invitation for Public Submissions: An Australian Living Guideline for the Pharmacological Management of Inflammatory Arthritis: Draft for Public Consultation (Version 3.0)

Organisations and members of the public with an interest in the pharmacological management of inflammatory arthritis are invited to submit their comments and suggestions on Version 3.0 of the draft guideline to help inform and contribute to its development.

The draft guideline can be viewed at:

https://app.magicapp.org/#/guideline/LqRV3n (a pdf of the guideline may also be accessed HERE)

Submissions should be made via: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Inflammatory_Arthritis_Living_Guideline_Feedback_Survey_Version_3

Period of Public Consultation:  Tuesday, 14 March to Sunday, 30 April 2023.

About the Guideline:

An Australian Living Guideline for the Pharmacological Management of Inflammatory Arthritis seeks to present the best available, current scientific evidence to assist decision making in the pharmacological management of the most common forms of inflammatory arthritis (IA), namely rheumatoid arthritis (RA), axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

The guideline is being produced by the Australia and New Zealand Musculoskeletal (ANZMUSC) Clinical Trials Network, the Australian Rheumatology Association (ARA) and Cochrane Musculoskeletal. From 2019 to 2022 guideline development was funded by the Australian Government Department of Health through the Value in Prescribing (VIP) bDMARDs Program Grant, awarded to the Targeted Therapies Alliance led by NPS MedicineWise. Current support is being provided by the NHMRC Australia and New Zealand Musculoskeletal (ANZMUSC) Clinical Trials Network Centre of Research Excellence (2023-27), Cochrane Musculoskeletal and the Victorian Government via the Australian Living Evidence Consortium.

Versions 1.0 and 2.0 of this living guideline were approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) on 7 July 2021 and 5 August 2022, respectively. Approval is now being sought for 'Version 3.0' of the guideline under Section 14A of the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992. The approval process requires a public consultation period (legislated minimum of 30 days) to allow relevant authorities and stakeholders the opportunity to provide feedback about the draft guideline, thereby contributing to its development.

'Version 3.0'of this living guideline comprises an additional three recommendations relating to:

· Subcutaneous or intramuscular methotrexate (MTX) versus oral MTX for people with rheumatoid arthritis (refer Section 6)

· Choice of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) in people with rheumatoid arthritis who have not responded to tumour necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors (refer Section 7)

· Short-term bridging glucocorticoid therapy as an adjunct to DMARD therapy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (refer Section 11.3)

As a living guideline, further recommendations relating to topics and questions identified as having highest clinical relevance to medical practitioners who treat IA will continue to be added and existing recommendations updated.

Further information can be viewed at:

· Technical Report

· Dissemination Plan

This news item was issued on 15 March 2023 by Jill Smith, CEO of ASCIA, the peak professional body for clinical immunology and allergy in Australia and New Zealand.