Abstract: Lysosomal enzymes and superoxide radicals (O.sub.2.sup.-) are potent mediators of rheumatoid inflammation. It is known that gold sodium thiosulphate (GTS), an injectable gold compound, inhibits lysosomal enzymes activity without however affecting its release, whereas auranofin (AF), an oral gold compound, inhibits such release but not enzyme activity. And while AF inhibits the generation of O.sub.2.sup.-, GTS is without significant effect. It has been discovered, using O.sub.2.sup.- production as an indicator of respiratory burst, that subtherapeutic concentrations of the oral gold having only partial inhibitory activity on O.sub.2.sup.- production, give rise to greatly enhanced inhibitory activity in such production when the oral gold is functionally combined with the otherwise inactive injectable gold. The effect of this combination of drugs is synergistic in that it far exceeds the sum of the individual inhibitory activities of the oral and injectable gold compounds. A further increase in O.sub.2.sup.