All News
Early RA and the Chance of DMARD-Free Remission
Early and aggressive treatment of rheumatoid arthritis has become the mantra for most who manage the disease and hope to achieve optimal outcomes - including remission.
Read Article
Secukinumab Bests Ustekinumab in Psoriasis CLEAR Study
The CLEAR study was a one-year, randomized, double-blind trial compared subcutaneous standard doses of secukinumab (anti-IL17) and ustekinumab (anti-IL12/23) in patients with moderate-severe plaque psoriasis.
Read Article
Amgen Agrees to $71 Million Settlement over Enbrel & Aranesp Promotion
Based on potentiallly off-label promotion of blockbuster drugs Aranesp and Enbrel, Amgen has agreed to a $71 million settlement with 48 states and the District of Columbia.
Read Article
Serious Infections are Increasing in Lupus
Tektonidou and coworkers have analyzed hospitalized serious infections (SIE) involving lupus patients over a 15 year period and show that SIE in SLE have increased substantially between 1996 and 2011, and in 2011 are 12 times higher than seen in patients without SLE.
Read Article
Cancer Risk Is Both Increased and Decreased in RA
Rheumatoid arthritis patients are often said to have no or a low risk of cancer.
Read Article
Long-Term Safety of Rituximab
Rituximab has been used for years with good efficacy, but with several safety concerns. Van Vollenhoven and colleagues have published the cumulative clinical trial safety experience of RTX wherein 3595 patients 1–20 (average - 4) courses over 11 years [14,816 patient-years (PY)].
Read Article
Alemtuzumab Effective in Behcet's Syndrome
Behcet's disease is difficult to treat and often has an over-reliance on corticosteroid use. Alemtuzumab (previously known as Campath-1H) has been studed in patients with Behcet's.
Read Article
Specialty Society Guidelines Must Evolve to Improve
The current JAMA issue examines the process and potential flaws of society clinical practice guidelines -a timely commentary as we await the 2015 ACR RA treatment guidelines first presented at the 2014 ACR meeting in Boston and slated for upcoming publication in Arthritis & Rheumatology
Read Article
Psoriasis Patients Satisfied with Biologics
A recent study published in the journal Patient Preference and Adherence examined insured patients from the Optum Research Database who had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis and queried them about their satisfaction with therapy.
Read Article
Rituximab Induced Neutropenia
In reviewing submitted abstracts for the 2014 ACR meeting, I was surprised by several abstracts focusing on neutropenia in patients receiving rituximab.
Read Article
Heel Pain, Uveitis, TB, Vitamin D, Hidradenitis: July 2015 top social media news
In July 2015, RheumNow published 73 tweets about impactful news, research and teaching points that I feel will have an impact on the rheumatology community. We had a reach (impressions) of 49,900, 63 mentions, and 1277 visits to RheumNow.com to check out what we publish.
Read Article
AstraZeneca Pushes Forward on Brodalumab Development
Despite Amgen's withdrawal as a co-developer of brodalumab, the anti-IL17A monoclonal antibody, AstraZeneca has announced it will push its plan to develop the drug. Brodalumab is currently in phase III trials for use in psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis.
Read ArticleACTEMRA Gets "Breakthrough" Status from the FDA for Scleroderma
The FASSCINATE study presented at EULAR 2015 was instrumental in tocilizumab (TCZ) getting a nod from the FDA to develop TCZ for scleroderma.
Read ArticleLegionella Outbreak in NYC
An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease has killed four people and sickened 65 in the Bronx section of New York City since July 10, according to New York City health officials. This Legionnaires' outbreak is now more than five times the number of cases recorded in the last outbre
Read ArticleB cell Inhibition with Epratuzumab Fails in Two Phase III Lupus Trials
Targeting B cells in systemic lupus erythematosus, the prototypic autoimmune disorder, has long been an attractive target for researchers. Despite negative trials with rituximab and the limited success of belimumab, efforts to inhibit B cell activity have continued.
Read Article
Men and Blacks Undertreated for Osteoporosis
Using claims data from 36,965 patients in an Indiana database, researchers found women (OR 1.86) and non-black patients (OR 1.52) were more likely to be treated (p<0.001) for osteoporosis.
Read Article
2015 Guidelines for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive, fibrosing form of interstitial pneumonia, with poor survival rates of nearly 50% at 3 years.
Read Article
Outcry Over the Cost of Drugs
Several news articles have addressed the rising concern by patients and physicians over the cost of newer drugs. This issue comes to a head as more than 100 oncologists from top cancer hospitals around the U.S.
Read Article
DSB: Drug Shortages July 2015
Several drugs continue to be in short supply, posing significant problems for patients. Foremost on this list is leflunomide (Arava) which is backordered for both 10 mg and 20 mg tablets.
Leflunomide Shortage
Read ArticleRituximab Induced Serum Sickness
Karmacharya and colleages have reviewed 33 cases of rituximab-induced serum sickness. Half of these patients had the classic triad of SS fever, rash, and arthralgia and a self-limiting course. The time to onset after infusion was greater with the first dose of rituximab c
Read Article