IL-1 Inhibition May Be an Alternative Treatment for Behcet's

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Behcet's disease is difficult to manage, especially if the goal is to avoid corticosteroids.

DSB Reports & Updates – July 2015

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FDA Scours the Internet for Safety Signals. A Bloomberg News report shows how the FDA is using Google or Yahoo keyword searches to identify new safety signals or drug interactions, often more than a year before they were brought to light by the FDA based on prior methodologies de

The Use of Non-TNF Biologic Treatments in Uveitis Reviewed

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A systematic review of treatments used in autoimmune chronic uveitis after failure of DMARDs and at least one TNF inhibitor identified few patients (12 children and 34 adults), and few trials examining rituximab (3), abatacept (3), tocilizumab (3), and 1 each with alemtuzumab and anakin

Xeljanz Warnings on Shingles Updated by FDA

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The MedWatch June 2015 safety labeling changes were published yesterday, and updated the warnings for Xeljanz (tofacitinib). "The risk of herpes zoster is increased in patients treated with Xeljanz and appears to be higher in patients treated with Xeljanz in Japan."

Guselkumab Tops Adalimumab in Psoriasis Trial

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NEJM reports a 52 week, phase II trial in 293 adult patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis (>10 BSA) who were randomized to receive either placebo, adalimumab or guselkumab - a novel IL-23 inhibitor.

Brodalumab Backlash

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On May 26, RheumNow.com reported that Amgen and Astra-Zenica suspended drug development for the IL-17 inhibitor brodalumab.

Neurologic Events with TNF Inhibitor Therapy

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Demyelinating disorders are an uncommon complication of TNF inhibition and have been described with all TNF inhibitors but also with other biologics. 

Rheumatology Leads the List in Drug Company Engagements

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Based on recently released data, ProPublica.org has compiled a list of pharmaceutical payments made to 606,000 US physicians in the last year. Their analysis turned up big differences between the different specialties.

Adalimumab Drug Levels Predict Efficacy

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In a prospective study of 311 rheumatoid arthritis patients starting either adalimumab (ADA) or etanercept, investigators sought to correlate drug levels and/or anti-drug antibodies with clinical outcomes (citation source http://url.ie/z237).

The Unproven Use of Stem Cell Therapy in OA of the Knee

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Regenerative medicine and the use of bone marrow stromal cells (or mesenchymal stem cells - MSC) is controversial in many areas of medicine, including osteoarthritis. MSC use is at a very early stage in orthopedic research, but has been investigated in osteoarthritis of the kn

TNF inhibitors in Early Axial SpA Spares NSAID Use

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In a 2 year follow-up of the DESIR cohort of patients with early inflammatory back pain (627 patients), TNF inhibitor use was associated with a significantly greater decrease in the median NSAID intake (from 54.9 to 1.9 in TNFi pts versus from 41.9 to 22.3 in non-TNFi pts, p0.05).

Ustekinumab Efficacy in Psoriatic Arthritis: 2 Year SUMMIT Trial Results

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615 adults with active PsA were randomized to ustekinumab (45mg group or 90mg group) or placebo with crossover at 24 weeks.

Utility of Drug Levels and Anti-Drug Antibodies When Starting TNF inhibitors

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A prospective cohort of 331 patients tested for anti-adalimumab (n=160) and anti-etanercept (n-171) antibodies after initiation of their TNF inhibitor therapy.

Ustekinumab Bests TNF Inhibitors for Biologic Survival in Psoriasis

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Using drug survival as a global measure of a drug's effectiveness, safety and tolerability, UK investigators used a national pharmacovigilance cohort (British Association of Dermatologists Biologic Interventions Register) to compare survival rates of the first biologic used in 3,523 biologic-naiv

FUTURE 2 Trial Shows Secukinumab to be Effective in Psoriatic Arthritis

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Lancet today published the results of the phase 3, prospecitive, multinational, double-blind, randomized controlled trial of secukinumab (an anti-IL-17A monoclonal antibody) in active psoriatic arthritis.

Fresolimumab (anti-TGF beta) Improves Systemic Sclerosis

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Transforming growth factor (TGF-β) is known to have potent profibrotic activity and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis a futile condition with no effective disease modifying treatments.

IM Residents Concerned about Cost, But Don't Have Access to Cost of Care Numbers

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A large ACP survey of over 18,000 US internal medicine residents shows they often incorporate cost of care in discussions and decisions, but may not know the data (citation source http://buff.ly/1KeLq0D).

Adherence to ETN/MTX is Greater Than Triple DMARD Therapy

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Rheumatoid management hinges on choosing your best therapies first.

Australia Allows Pharmacy Substitution with Biosimilars Without Notice

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Biosimilars are copies of the biologic medicines used to treat inflammatory and immunologic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cancer- potentially at lower costs.

Chikungunya Infection in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

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