All News
DEXA Still Needed While on Bisphosphonates
Reuters reports that a study of 6629 Canadian women with osteoporosis taking bisphosphonates found that nearly one in five had a decrease in bone density while on medication. (Citation source: http://buff.ly/2afb7nj)
Read Article
Prevalence of Spondyloarthropathy in Fibromyalgia
With the introduction of ASAS criteria for the diagnosis of axial and peripheral spondyloarthropathy, there has been a debate about whether patients with fibromyalgia (FM) could be mistaken for a spondyloarthropathy, or vice versa.
Read Article
SAPHO Syndrome Revisted
SAPHO is an acronym that describes a constellation of findings (synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, and osteitis) that defines this rare syndrome.
Read Article
Will Patent Extensions Delay Biosimilar Arrivals?
In the last 6 months, the FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee has recommended three biosimilars (CT-P13, GP-2015, ABP-501) for approval, with one achieving FDA approval Inflectra/CT-P13) and the other two pending a probable approval in the months to come.
Read Article
ORBIT Study Shows Rituximab is Non-Inferior to TNF Inhibitors in Biologic Naive Patients
Porter and colleagues have reported that both rituximab (RTX) and tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) are equally and highly effective in early, active, biologic-naive rheumatoid arthritis patients.
Read Article
Increaed GI Perforations with Tocilizumab Seen in German Registry Analysis
The issue of lower intestinal tract perforation (LIP) is no novelty to rheumatologists since the RA treatment paradigm shifted from use of NSAIDs (the most common cause of upper GI tract perforations) to steroids and non-steroidal DMARDs.
Read Article
RheumNow Week in Review – 15 July 2016
Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights from this week's rheumatology news on RheumNow.com.
Read Article
Sandoz Etanercept Biosimilar Voted for Approval by FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee
The Food and Drug Administration’s Arthritis Advisory Committee (AAC) yesterday recommended that the Sandoz etanercept (Enbrel) biosimilar (GP-2015) be approved for use in the United States.
Read Article
FDA Approves Xiidra (Lifitegrast) for Dry Eyes
MedScape has reported that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved lifitegrast ophthalmic solution (Xiidra, Shire) for the treatment of signs and symptoms of dry eye disease.
Read Article
Gut Microbiome Shapes Risk and Response in Rheumatoid Arthritis
In Genome Medicine, Mayo Clinic researchers investigated a cohort of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, their relatives and a healthy control group analyzing the gut microbiome vial16S ribosomal DNA analysis of fecal samples.
Read Article
FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee Recommends Approval of Adalimumab Biosimilar
The Food and Drug Administration’s Arthritis Advisory Committee yesterday recommended that Amgen biosimilar (ABP 501) to Humira (adalimumab) be approved for use in the United States.
Read Article
FDA Says Cryotherapy Lacks Evidence, Poses Risks
Cryotherapy is a non-FDA approved treatment that has been promoted to treat post-athletic injury, osteoarthritis,rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, alzheimers, migraines, asthma, multiple sclerosis, etc. Cryotherapy may be as simple as ice packs on a localized portion of the body, such as the lower back, or may involve whole body cryotherapy.
Read Article
Academic Female Physicians Paid Less than Male Counterparts
Female academic physicians at public medical schools had lower average salaries than their male counterparts, a disparity that was only partly accounted for by age, experience, medical specialty, faculty rank and other factors, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.
Read Article
EULAR Revised Recommendations for Fibromyalgia
The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) has published updated recommendations on the management of fibromyalgia in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (Citation source http://buff.ly/29I7e8C).
Read Article
Vagal Stimulation Improves Cytokine Production and Rheumatoid Disease Activity
PNAS has published a study wherein an inducible “inflammatory reflex” delivered by vagus nerve stimulation was shown to inhibit the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), an inflammatory molecule that is a major therapeutic target in an animal model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Read Article
Lupus Patients Genomically Stratified to Explain Treatment Responses
Systemic lupus is a clinically heterogeneous disorder, unified by requisite clinical features and exuberant humoral response to unknown triggers. While the diagnosis is easy, the disease course and management can be complicated and challenging.
Read Article
Angiogenic Biomarkers Predict Adverse Outcomes Pregnancies in Lupus
The PROMISSE (Predictors of Pregnancy Outcome: Biomarkers in Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus) study has revealed several important lessons in lupus care.
Read Article
Sclerostin Inhibition May Worsen Rheumatoid Arthritis
Sclerostin, an inhibitor of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, negatively regulates osteoblast differentiation and has anti-anabolic effects on bone formation. Thus, inhibition of sclerostin is currently being studied as therapy for postmenopausal osteoporosis.
Read Article
Patient Reluctance to Take Bisphosphonates
The NY Times reports that millions of Americans with osteoporosis are driven to stop or not take bisphosphonate therapies over the fear of exceedingly rare side effects - osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) and atypical femoral fractures (AFF).
Read Article
faSScinate Study Shows Tocilizumab to be Effective in Systemic Sclerosis
The results of the faSScinate trial were published in Lancet showing that treatment with Actemra (tocilizumab) resulted in a reduction in skin thickness and an improvement in lung function in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).
Read Article