ACR 2020 (aka ACR Convergence) is just around the corner, with the opening ceremonies and lecture starting Thursday, November 5th; followed by the full meeting beginning the next morning, Friday November 6th. 

Dr Jack Cush overviews the RheumNow commitment, upcoming bonus coverage of ACR20 and the good news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com

An open-label extension of the ASSET trial (abatacept in diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis) showed continued safety with significant improvements in the modified Rodnan Skin Score (mRSS) at 12 months, suggesting abatacept (ABA) may benefit early systemic sclerosis (SSc).

While there have been several promising new agents for systemic sclerosis, many have failed - with all noting the difficulties in appropriate outcomes and endpoints for clinical trials. With this in mind, the FDA was interested in hearing patients’ perspectives on systemic sclerosis and new drug development, and held a virtual meeting on 10/13/20.

The DISCOVER‐2 trial has shown that guselkumab, an interleukin‐23p19 was shown to be safe and effective in biologic‐naïve psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients in a one year study.

JAMA Internal Medicine has published a review showing that most currently approved therapies for fibromyalgia (FM) do not have high-quality evidence to support their use; with some reducing pain or improving quality of life (QOL) in the short term, but overall effect size is not impressive.

Vedolizumab (Entyvio) was superior to infliximab (Remicade) for treating immune-mediated diarrhea and colitis (IMDC), a researcher reported.

A new short‐term follow‐up study has shown no significant difference in outcomes and quality measures in patients with RA who were managed by telemedicine (compared to usual in-person care).

Yesterday the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) "Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee" conve

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal reports, survey results and "Back Talk" questions from Rheums.

The FDA has approved Gilead Sciences Inc’s antiviral drug remdesivir for treating patients hospitalized with COVID-19, making it the first and only drug approved for the disease in the United States.

A number of recently published clinical trials are further defining the efficacy and outcomes of tocilizumab or remdesivir in treating SARs-CoV-2 infection.

Remdesivir

Prospective observational findings from the CORRONA registry of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients compared clinical outcomes between initial aggressive therapy using either a tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) or a non-TNFi (biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) and tar

Dr. Jack Cush sings the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.

NEJM reports the results of the SELECT-Choice trial, a head to head study of upadacitinib (UPA) and abatacept (ABA) in biologic refractory rheumatoid arthritis (RA); 12 weeks results showed UPA was significantly more clinically effective than ABA using a DAS28-CRP remission, but ABA had fewer safety signals and serious adverse events.

Cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) who develop severe arthritis may be at risk for progression of the malignancy, a single-center study suggested.

The CDC has analyzed temporal trends in percent positivity by age group in COVID-19 hotspot counties before and after their identification as hotspots.

Mease and colleagues have reviewed the tofacitinib drug development and clinical trial data, finding the risk of venous (VTE) and arterial thromboembolism (ATE) to be low and augmented in patients with baseline cardiovascular abd VTE risk factors and those taking higher doses of tofacitinib (10 m

A large RA cohort study from the Swedish Rheumatology Quality Register shows a higher risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA)  and that risk is linked to RA disease activity.