Abbvie Highlights Upadacitinib Trials at EULAR18

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Abbvie press releases feature the results from 3 new trials to be presented during the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2018) in Amsterdam from three Phase 3 trials evaluating upadacitinib, an investigational, once-daily oral JAK1-selective inhibitor, in adult patients with moderat

Cancer Therapies Inducing Immune-Related Adverse Events (irAEs)

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Recent shifts in the cancer treatment paradigm towards immune therapies has led to wide implementation of the novel immune check point inhibitors (ICI) in the treatment of multiple types of advanced cancer.

SPAR Predicts ILD Progression in Systemic Sclerosis

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The development and progression of interstitial lung disease in systemic sclerosis can be an ominous finding.

Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs Fail to Deter Opiate Abuse

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A systematic review of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), advocated in the president's Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan, fails to show evidence of efficacy in preventing nonfatal and fatal overdoses.

Low Disease Activity in Lupus Limits Damage

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Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who were assessed as being in a low disease activity state during more than half of clinical visits had a decrease in organ damage events of approximately 50%, a retrospective study found.

Sons of Gout Study

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The genetics and heritability of gout has suggested a higher risk in certain families.  A UK cohort study examined the prevalence of gout and monosodium urate (MSU) crystal deposition among those at risk (sons of gout patients) for gout and found a high incidence of hyperuricemia and MSU crystal deposition.

Long Term Remission in SLE is Possible?

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Researchers from the Toronto Lupus Clinic have described an atypical “monophasic” course in a small number (7.5%) of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients who achieved and sustained clinical remission, with most off of all medications for an average of 18 years.

The RheumNow Week in Review – Good News for GPA, CZP, Tofa but not ERA (6.1.18)

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews this weeks reports from RheumNow.com, including the risk of autoimmunity with vaccination, early RA outcomes, new FDA approvals for certolizumab and tofacitinib and the risk of death from infection with biologics.

High anti-TNF Failure Rates with Obesity

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A meta-analysis has suggested that obesity is an under-reported predictor of inferior response to tumor necrosis factor blockade (anti-TNF) in a range of inflammatory immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs), with the results showing a 60% risk of impaired response to anti-TNF across several

Increased Risk of Depression and Anxiety in Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Canadian researchers have analyzed population data and shown that the incidence and prevalence of depression, anxiety  and bipolar disorders are elevated in the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients compared to a matched population.

Cancer Risk Raised in Psoriatic Arthritis

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Patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) were at increased risks for malignancy, and possibly more so if they were treated with conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), a meta-analysis found.

In nine cohort studies that included more than 43,000 PsA patients, the pooled relative risk for overall malignancy was 1.29 (95% CI 1.04-1.60) compared with the general population, according to Yunyun Fei, MD, and colleagues from Peking Union Medical College in Beijing.

Measures of Opioid Misuse Predict Future Opioid Overdose and Death

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The current issue of Annals of Internal Medicine examines patterns of potential opioid misuse that are associated with subsequent adverse outcomes nationally.

MPO Antibodies Predict Relapses in MPO-ANCA-Associated Vasculitis

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A study of MPO-ANCA positive patients followed serially over 2 years shows that reappearance of MPO‐ANCA may predict  relapse in patients with MPO‐ANCA positive AAV and that routine MPO‐ANCA monitoring is warranted. 

Autoinflammatory Syndromes Show Dramatic Response to Canakinumab

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The New England Journal of Medicine reports that the anti-interleukin (IL)-1β monoclonal antibody canakinumab (Ilaris) was effective in the treatment of three distinct autoinflammatory recurrent fever syndromes (FMF, TRAPS, HIDS) with responses that were far superior to what was see

The RheumNow Week in Review – Modifiable Behavior (5.18.18)

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.  He discusses opioids, new approval for polyarticular JIA, running and osteoarthritis, and modifiable behaviors that influence outcomes. 

Treat-to-Target a Bust with Rheumatologists

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Treat-to-target strategy is widely advocated as an important means of optimizing treatment responses in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Even though T2T is encouraged by most guidelines, a current report shows that US Rheumatologists fail to implement T2T in their daily practice.

Trends in Psoriatic Arthritis Treatment 2004-2015

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Lee and colleagues from Brigham and Women's Hospital have analyzed the last decade of disease‐modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) use in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and found nearly 40% were treated with a bDMARD, along with a decreasing trend in complete DMARD discontinuations.

The Hazardous Highs and Lows of Uric Acid

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Both high and low levels of uric acid were linked with increased risks of death, showing a U-shaped association between serum uric acid levels and all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality, Korean researchers reported.

Opioid Marketing & Meals Tied to Opioid Prescribing

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A current study in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that while US physicians who received no opioid-related marketing payments had fewer opioid prescriptions in 2015 compared with 2014, those receiving such payments wrote for more opioid in 2015.

Ankylosing Spondylitis Women Show Less Durable Responses to TNF Inhibitors

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A study from the Netherlands has shown that the long-term drug survival of TNF inhibitors differ between men and women, with women having a lower long-term retention rate compared to men. A single-center, retrospective study of 122 anklylosing spondylitis (AS) patients, analyzed the outcomes of those receiving either  etanercept, adalimumab, or infliximab between 2004 and 2014.

Nearly 40% were women and most AS patients received adalimumab (59.7%), compared to etanercept (28.9%) or infliximab (11.3%).