What is Sulfasalazine?
Sulfasalazine (brand names Pyralin EN, Salazopyrin, Salazopyrin EN) is a medicine used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. It can also be used to treat other diseases such as psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
It is a combination of an aspirin-like anti- inflammatory component and a sulphur antibiotic-like component.
It is not clear how sulfasalazine works. It appears to have anti-inflammatory effects and to reduce the activity of the immune system. In rheumatoid arthritis, these actions help to reduce pain, inflammation and joint swelling. It also limits damage to the joints and helps to prevent disability in the long term.
Because sulfasalazine acts to reduce the damage to the joints, rather than just relieve the pain, it belongs to the group of medicines called disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).