The primary objective of drug therapy for ankylosing spondylitis is to reduce pain, stiffness, and discomfort.
Drugs play an important role in the therapeutic process.
The first group of drugs is thought to slow the disease process itself and are also known as antirheumatic drugs. Included in this group is sulfasalazine, which has been shown to suppress the activity of the ankylosing spondylitis. Because reducing the inflammatory process alone does not always change the course of the disease, researchers are led to believe that there are other factors involved in the progression of the disease. The last group of drugs consists primarily of analgesics and muscle relaxants. There has been much research done on the effects of sulfasalazine treatment in AS patients.