The Great Taper: steroids’ symptoms and the resultant rise of new classes of anti-inflammatories

John Stone, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board at Steritas (London, UK), lays out the issues presented by the wide-ranging use of steroid drugs and the rising prevalence of steroid-toxicity sparing alternatives, highlighting the success stories of emergent drugs that result from years of preclinical research and looking to the future of the field. The situation with steroids Steroids (glucocorticoids or corticosteroids) such as prednisone and dexamethasone are one of the most widely prescribed drugs for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory disorders worldwide. These are first-line treatments, which provide rapid and inexpensive relief to dozens of diseases spanning many...