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No Added Benefit to MRI-Guided Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis
A treat-to-target (T2T) strategy to manage rheumatoid arthritis hinges on clinical metrics to optimize therapy. But investigators from Denmark have shown that using magnetic resonance imaging–guided T2T failed to improve disease activity remission rates or reduce radiographic progression.
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SEAM-PsA Study - Does Monotherapy MTX Win Despite Losing to Etanercept in Psoriatic Arthritis?
The SEAM-PsA study examined the efficacy of methotrexate monotherapy, etanercept monotherapy or the combination of MTX and ETN in psoriatic arthritis patients, and found that ETN monotherapy was equivalent to combination therapy - and that both were superior to MTX alone in clinical (ACR and MDA) and radiographic responses.
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HHS Issues New EHR Record Sharing Rule
WASHINGTON -- Patients would have access to their electronic health records free of charge and would be able to transfer them more easily from one provider to another under rules proposed Monday by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
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RheumNow Podcast – Downside of Lupus (2.9.19)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews this past week's news and reports from RheumNow.com:
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Biologic High Out of Pocket Costs for Medicare Patients
Specialty tier drugs, including biologics, accounts for nearly half of all medication spending by Medicare Part D patients. High out-of-pocket costs for these patients is a major concern.
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Compounded Pain Creams - Expensive Placebos?
The Annals of Internal Medicine reports that the growth and use of compounded pain creams is unwarranted as they were no better than placebo in a randomized controlled trial, suggesting their higher costs are unjustifiable compared to other topical commercially available agents (lidocain
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Low IBD Risk with Secukinumab
The interleukin-23 (IL-23)/IL-17 axis plays an important role in inflammation and infection. Some of these chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disorders include PsO, PsA, AS, and IBD. Patients with PsO, PsA, and AS have up to a four-fold risk of developing IBD versus the general population.
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Ixekizumab and Complete Resolution of Enthesitis and Dactylitis
IL-17 inhibitors have proven to be effective in psoriatic arthritis. Analyses of ixekizumab-treated PsA patients with enthesitis or dactylitis shows this approach to yield significant improvements in enthesitis and dactylitis.
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Vertebroplasty and Kyphoplasty Shown to Be Ineffective
There are approximately 750,000 new vertebral compression fractures each year in the United States, with resultant acute and chronic back pain in over one‐third of patients with vertebral fractures (VF). Both percutaneous vertebroplasty or balloon kyphoplasty have been advocated as useful m
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Multidisciplinary Recommendations for Rheumatoid Foot Problems
Approximately 90% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have foot problems.
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RheumNow Podcast – TNFs and the Inflammasome (1.25.19)
Dr Jack Cush reviews the news from the past week at RheumNow.com.
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Obesity Needs to be Treated in Psoriatic Arthritis
Obese patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) who followed a short-term, very low-energy diet showed improvements in multiple aspects of disease activity, a prospective study found.
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Does Seropositivity Change with Therapy?
A subanalysis of the early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) "IMPROVED" study has shown that changes in RA-autoantibody levels are not associated with disease activity or or long-term drug response, but instead reflect intensity of immunosuppression.
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Major Challenges for Lupus in 2019
Despite striking improvements in survival among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in recent decades -- from 1-year survival of less than 50% before the introduction of prednisone to 90% today in most specialized treatment centers -- many challenges remain in this perplexing, multis
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2019: the Year of Price Hikes
In 2019 there have been numerous reports of higher drug pricing for many drugs. Yesterday it was reported that the price of insulin drugs have more than doubled from 2012 to 2016.
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Smoking Doesn't Influence Rituximab Responses in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Alcohol, smoking and obesity have all been shown to influence the risk and activity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and may also influence response to therapy. This study assesssed whether smoking would influence response to rituximab (RTX) in RA.
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RheumNow Podcast – FDA Panels Meet on Gout & OP (1.18.19)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, articles and FDA Panel discussions from the past week.
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Does Methotrexate Work in Giant Cell Arteritis?
There seems to be both hope and uncertainty regarding the use of weekly methotrexate (MTX) in giant cell arteritis (GCA) patients whom need to limit their glucocorticoid use.
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Febuxostat Gets Reprieve from FDA Advisory Panel
On January 11, 2019 the FDA convened two advisory panels (the Arthritis Advisory Committee [AAC] and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee [DSaRM]) to consider the cardiovascular safety of febuxostat (Uloric) based on the 2018 “Cardiovascular Safety of Febuxostat and Allopurinol
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IL-6 Blocker Succeeds in Real-World Vasculitis
Tocilizumab (Actemra) was effective for refractory giant cell arteritis (GCA) in real-world practice, although serious infections occurred relatively frequently, Spanish investigators reported.
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