Page 29 - Binder2
P. 29

Switching is not a reset. It’s a roll of the dice, often made
               out of necessity, not strategy.




               Combination Therapy: Complexity Without
               Durability

               In some cases, physicians will try to keep a failing biologic
               on board by combining it with another agent—perhaps
               another monoclonal antibody, or a kinase inhibitor, or a
               corticosteroid. These combinations may achieve short-term
               gains, but they introduce polypharmacy risk, compliance
               challenges, and unpredictable immune responses.


               These regimens are harder to monitor, harder to optimize,
               and harder for payers to justify—especially when outcomes
               remain inconsistent. It's both a lazy and insufficient fix to a
               larger problem.




               What These Approaches Have in Common

               All of these coping strategies—dose escalation,
               immunosuppression, switching, combination therapy—
               share three characteristics:

                   1.  They treat the symptom, not the cause.
                       None of them address the immune system’s core
                       intolerance to the biologic itself.
                   2.  They are expensive and inefficient.
                       Every escalation and every switch increases both
                       direct and indirect costs, often with diminishing
                       returns.



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