disease-modifying
Adjective
Meaning
disease-modifying (not comparable)
(medicine) Of a treatment, that reduces the progression and activity of a disease by altering its underlying pathophysiological processes.
Coordinate term: symptomatic
Examples
A group of medications called disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) may be used to try to slow the progression of disease.
While none of them had taken the drug in combination with other disease-modifying treatments, previous use of MS treatments increases the risk of PML between 3 and 4-fold.
There are five oral MS disease-modifying therapies, which is a nice alternative for people who cannot tolerate injections or for people whose MS continues to progress despite interferon therapy and/or Copaxone.
Treatments also include analgesics such as NSAIDs and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), while in rare cases, surgery may be required to replace joints, but there is no cure for the disease.
Over 10 years, the models estimated that the average cost to treat one patient was $267,710 with supportive care, but nearly doubled when researchers added the costs of disease-modifying drugs to the equation.
Today we have 14 disease-modifying therapies on the market.”