A phase 2 trial has demonstrated the efficacy of secukinumab, an anti-interleukin-17A monoclonal antibody, in patients with active giant cell arteritis (GCA).

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and reports from the past week on RheumNow.com. This week a new colchicine FDA approval, rising rate of IgG4 related disease and what's the safest biologic?

About 60% of adults aged 18 and over reported taking at least one prescription medication in 2021, with 36% reporting taking three or more. Out-of-pocket costs on retail drugs rose 4.8% to $63 billion in 2021.

The FDA has approved colchicine (Lodoco) for cardiovascular prevention in adults with established atherosclerotic disease or multiple risk factors, making it the first anti-inflammatory medicine with such an indication.

Treatment advances with new biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs), targeted synthetic DMARDs (tsDMARDs) and biosimilar DMARDs (bsDMARDs) have proven efficacy and safety; but does their increased cost yield commensurate benefits in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and high disease activity?

While it is known that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients may be at risk for certain cancers, the question is which cancers and is this modified by therapy.

A multinational registry analysis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving abatacept (ABA) has shown that the safety profile of ABA remains unchanged with no new or increased risks of infection or malignancy.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow.com, including new drug approval, a new SpA variant and new rules for methotrexate (MTX) monitoring and depression screening. 

Clinicians treating patients with psoriasis should be on the lookout for certain signs that joint involvement is likely to develop, according to a new "points to consider" documentopens in a new tab or window from the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR).

A longitudinal cohort analysis has developed a prognostic model that informs a risk stratified approach to monitoring blood tests during long term methotrexate (MTX) therapy.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlight abstracts and sessions - covering lupus, RA, gout, Still's disease, safety data, AI in medicine and more - from last week's EULAR 2023 Congress held in Milan, Italy.

At EULAR 2023, there was a late breaking abstract that compared difficult to treat patients with RA who had received treatment (including TNFi and JAKi in some patients) previously and still had active disease.