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Ustekinumab May be Effective in Lupus
Ronald F van Vollenhoven and colleagues have reported in Lancet that ustekinumab (UST), an interleukin-12 and -23 inhibitor, when added to usual therapy in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, was shown to be superior to placebo at improving clinical efficacy and laboratory param
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RheumNow Week in Review – RheumNow Live Meeting Announcement (9.21.18)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and updates from the past week on RheumNow.
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Maastricht Study Links Dairy Intake to Osteoarthritis
The Maastricht study explored the potential association between dairy consumption and knee osteoarthritis (OA), and found that higher intake of full-fat dairy and Dutch cheese - but not milk - was significantly associated with the lower risk of knee OA.
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Update on Myositis
The ACR/ARHP 2018 national meeting in Chicago presented us with opportunities to learn more about inflammatory myositis. A particularly interesting lecture was HOT topics in myositis. There were a few abstracts on MDA-5 related disease and a few on new or repurposed medications for dermatomyositis which will be covered here.
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Unproven But Profitable Stem Cell Clinics
Stem cell clinics are popular and proliferating as they are largely a cash business and fall outside of FDA regulatory control. In lieu of scientific proof, most advocates use patient testimonials and the placebo effect to back up their claims.
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Treat-to-Target in RA: No Increase in AEs
Implementing a treat-to-target approach for the care of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) did not result in an increase in adverse events or resource use, a post-hoc analysis of a randomized trial showed.
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An Association between GCA and IBD ?
A population based analysis from Israel suggests that giant cell arteritis (GCA) patients may be at increased risk for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) mainly target.
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FDA's Opioid Analgesic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Finalized
In response to the growing opioid crisis, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the final Opioid Analgesic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), designed to reduce the risk of abuse, misuse, addiction, overdose, and deaths due to prescription opioid analgesics.
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Breast Implant Study: More Worries or Not?
The Annals of Surgery reports on an anlaysis of FDA-mandated postmarket studies, including nearly 100,000 breast implant pprocedures, that showed silicone implants to be associated with higher rates of Sjögren's syndrome, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, stillbirth, and melanoma.
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Negotiation Skills for Rheumatologists
Physicians as a group are trained to have excellent clinical skills, but the difference between an average and extremely successful physician often comes down to factors outside of their ability to provide clinical care.
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Quarterly Canakinumab Reduces Gout Risk Without Affecting Uric Acid
The Annals of Internal Medicine reports that interleukin-1 (IL-1) inhibitor treatment is associated with a reduced risk of gout attacks - such are the findings of an anlysis of the CANTOS study previously reported at the Annual ACR 2017 meeting in Washington, DC.
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New Classification of Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies
Using an observational cohort analysis of patients in the French myositis network, researchers have proposed a new classification of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) with four subgroups: dermatomyositis, inclusion body myositis, immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy, and antisynthetas
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Biologic Therapies Improve Work Outcomes in Spondyloarthritis
A study from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register in Axial Spondyloarthritis (BSRBR-AS) shows that biologic use significantly improves work productivity and overall activity impairment.
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RheumNow Week in Review – Gout and Hearing Loss, Huh? (9.14.18)
Dr. Jack Cush's weekly review of the news on RheumNow.com.
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Lower Income Elderly are More Likely to Use Opioids
The Journal of Gerontology reports that the poorest of the elderly are the most likely to receive prescription opioids.
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Depression Increases Risk of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Twenty-year data from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) suggests that depression is associated with a 2-fold increased frequency of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) - the question is why?
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BMS Tyk 2 Inhibitor Benefits Psoriasis
The NEJM reports that an oral selecive Tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor of TYK2 was shown to be superior to placebo in a 12 week trial in patients with active psoriasis.
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Mediterranean Diet Reduces Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis
High adherence to a Mediterranean diet appears to be associated with a lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), especially in men and those who are seropositive, according to a study published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.
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Out of Pocket Costs for Biosimilars - No Savings So Far
JAMA has published an analysis showing that under Medicare Part D, RA biosimilar infliximab-dyyb was only moderately less expensive (18% less) than the biologic infliximab and, owing to differences in gap discounts, the out of pocket costs for the biosimilar was nearly $1700 more than infliximab
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Cutting Oral JAK 1/2 Inhibitor Dose an Option in RA
Many patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who achieved sustained disease control with baricitinib (Olumiant) treatment were able to reduce their daily dose from 4 mg to 2 mg and maintain their response, a double-blind substudy of a long-term extension trial found.
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