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FDA REMS/Safety Panel Backs Educational Requirements for Opioid Prescribers
An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration met May 3rd and 4th to review whether the long-acting or extended release (ER/LA) opioid REMS programs approved in 2012 have had a meaningful effect on the opioid abuse problems noted nationwide. The FDA panel voted overwhelming
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Methotrexate Yields No Added Benefit in Etanercept Treated Psoriatic Arthritis Patients
Despite a paucity of clinical trial proof, methotrexate is often advocated or mandated to treat psoriatic arthritis. A recent comparison of clinical trials outcomes fails to show any added value when MTX is given to PsA patients taking etanercept.
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A Rheumatologist's Guide to Bariatric Surgery
Obesity is epidemic in North America, affecting nearly 76 million adults. Obesity is not only a risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, it clearly worsens pain and function in most musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions and has been shown to blunt DMARD and biologic resp
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Simple Referral Rule May Lead to Earlier Referral and Diagnosis of Axial Spondyloarthritis
Early referral and diagnosis remains a challenge for many who care for patients with musculoskeletal complaints. This is especially so in those with chronic low back pain (LBP) and the minority who will have ankylosing spondylitis or axial spondyloarthritis.
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CDC Updates Arthritis Numbers
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) routinely surveys the population prevalence of certain chronic disorders, including arthritis.
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Biosimilar Switching Shows Favorable Interchangeability
Interchangeability is a major issue that will determine the success of biosimilars.
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Poor Outcomes for Dermato/Polymyositis Admitted to ICU
Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) may be complicated with life-threatening conditions requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission. The outcomes of such complications may be dire, but there are few series addressing the outcomes of those admitted to the ICU.
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Consensus Guideline on Drug Therapy After Osteoporotic Fractures
Silverman and a panel from the IOF Fracture Working Group reviewed the data and trials to develop guidelines for the use of osteoporosis medications after incident fractures or to treat delayed fracture healing.
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Low Adherence to Biologics in Psoriasis Patients
Doshi and colleagues have conducted a retrospective claims analysis (2009 through 2012) of psoriasis patients on Medicare to examine the use and adherence to those initiating treatment with either infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab, or ustekinumab.
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Can Rituximab Change the Course of Interstitial Lung Disease?
Like other extraarticular manifestations, rheumatoid (RA) or connective tissue disease (CTD) related interstitial lung disease (ILD) is difficult to identify early and equally challenging to treat.
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Anniversary Feature: Top 5 Most-Read Articles from 1st Year
It is important to know where you’ve been, as it will most certainly color where you are going. Hence, in honor of our 1st year anniversary, we have taken note of our most popular articles.
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Doctors Need to See the Forest, Not Just the Trees
Doctors have an interesting problem. They have an ingrained professional obsessive-compulsive habit; they fixate on the care of individual patients and on the science of healing. This is an admirable trait; it results in high-quality care. However, when physicians need to change their attention from healer to leader, from medicine to the business of medicine, from healthcare to the healthcare system, they falter. Stuck in silos, they fail to adjust their focus. They resist systemic innovation. Because they cannot flip, they flop.
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RheumNow Week in Review – 22 April 2016
Watch Dr. Jack Cush cover ten highlights from this week on RheumNow.com.
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Vaccine Success is Limited in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Numerous guidelines (ACR, ACIP/CDC, ATS, NICE) all call for timely vaccinations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and those receiving immunosuppressives or biologics.
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α Defensin Control of Inflammation
Alpha defensins are released following apoptosis, necrosis, or netosis of human neutrophils. They are taken up by other cells and microbes, wherein they permeablize membranes and kill microbes and host cells. Thus, they augment the antimicrobial capacity of macrophages and at the same time inhibit the biosynthesis of proinflammatory cytokines.
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Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy in Lupus
Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a rare neurological disorder with many associations or causative factors that rarely includes autoimmune disorders and lupus.
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FDA Will Review Opioid Analgesic Use and REMS Programs for Pediatric Pain Patients
Amidst a stringent regulatory environment, and with the rising use and abuse of narcotics and increasing regulation limiting narcotic analgesic use, the FDA approved (August 2015) the use of extended-release oxycodone in children (11 to 16 years old) with severe, "around-the-clock" pain
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BeST Trial and 10-Year Outcomes of Four Treatment Strategies
Markusse and investigators from The Netherlands have reported their 10 year results of treating early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients using targeted treatment strategies.
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Osteoporotic Fractures at Higher Risk for Subsequent Fractures
Harvey and coworkers reported the results of subjects followed in the Reykjavik study, demonstrating that a first osteoporotic fracture was followed by an increased risk for a second fracture, both immediately and over time.
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HLA-B*5801 Testing Needed in Asians and Blacks with Gout
Choi and colleagues analyzed US hospitalizations (2009–2013) to assess the frequency and racial distribution of patients hospitalized with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN) related to the use of urate-lowering (ULT) therapy (predominantly allopurinol).
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