Since the rheumatic diseases are among the most prevalent of conditions, the anti-rheumatic drugs make up one of the largest groups of drugs prescribed. They vary from the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs through to the complex imrnunomodulators. There are significant differences between these groups of drugs as regards their mechanism of action and within each spectrum of adverse reactions, yet there is also some overlap. class there are also subtle individual differences between the drugs despite a sharing of the basic mechanisms of action and range of side effects. It is this...