Epidemiology Unit, Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum Berlin (DRFZ)

The German Rheumatism Research Centre (Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum Berlin,DRFZ,Head: Prof. Dr. Andreas Radbruch) is the national German institute for basic and epidemiologic research in rheumatology. It is a member of the Leibniz Scientific Community and is jointly funded by the Federal state of Germany and the State of Berlin. The Epidemiology Unit (Head: Prof. Dr. Angela Zink) is one out of two major areas of research of the institute. The pharmacoepidemiology group (Head: Dr. Anja Strangfeld) runs the German Biologics Register RABBIT. Since 2001,more than 8,000 patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with one out of seven licensed biologic agents,as well as a control group,have been observed for at least five years. The major focus is on long-term safety of all drugs under observation. RABBIT is jointly funded by all pharmaceutical companies producing these drugs and has full academic freedom in design,conduct,analysis and publication of results.